Faculty

Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto
Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgeon, Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto, Ontario

Dr. Jacob C. Langer was educated and trained at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He did research fellowships at the University of California, San Francisco and McMaster University before becoming Assistant Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at McMaster University and a pediatric surgeon at the Children’s Hospital at Chedoke-McMaster from 1989 to 1992. He then moved to St. Louis and became Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at Washington University and a pediatric surgeon at St. Louis Children’s Hospital from 1992 to 1999. He returned to Toronto in 1999 to become Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto, and Chief of the Division of General and Thoracic Surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children, a position that he held until 2012. He was also the inaugural holder of the Robert M. Filler Chair in Pediatric Surgery.

In 1995, Dr. Langer won the prestigious Innovative Scientist of the Year award from the St. Louis Academy of Science, and in 2007 was named the Canadian James IV traveling fellow. In 2014 he was awarded the Detweiler fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He was named one of the 30 Top Doctors by Toronto Life Magazine in 2014 and one of Toronto’s Top Doctors by Post magazine in 2022. He has written over 340 papers in peer-reviewed journals, over 90 book chapters on a variety of topics, and has edited a textbook on Minimal Access Surgery in Children. His primary interests involve the natural history and management of prenatally diagnosed congenital anomalies, (particularly abdominal wall defects and congenital diaphragmatic hernia), the development of new ways of managing children with Hirschsprung disease, inflammatory bowel disease and other intestinal disorders, and new advances in the field of pediatric minimally invasive pediatric surgery. He has traveled widely to operate and to lecture on these and other topics in pediatric surgery. He has been on the Medical Advisory Boards of the American Pseudo-obstruction and Hirschsprung’s Disease Society, the Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Society, and Research, Education and Awareness for Children with Hirschsprung Disease (REACH). He has been a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, Pediatric Endosurgery and Innovative Techniques, Pediatric Surgery International, the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports, and the European Journal of Pediatric Surgery. He has served as Chair of the American Pediatric Surgical Association Informatics and Nominating committees and has also sat on the Fetus and Newborn Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Practice, Fetal Therapy, Bylaws, Program, and Critical Care Committees of APSA. He has served as a Director and Chaired several committees of the Canadian Association of Paediatric Surgeons and was President of that organization from 2012-14.

Dr. Langer retired from clinical practice in June 2023 but has continued to be active as a teacher and mentor. He leads the University of Toronto Department of Surgery Academy of Senior Surgeons Experiencing Transition (ASSET) group and is involved in a number of other initiatives within the University.

Dr. Langer is married to Ferne Sherkin-Langer, a pediatric nurse, author, and realtor. They have three children and four very cute grandchildren.