Dean's Biography
Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS
Marjorie Joy Katz Dean, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
A nationally celebrated clinician scholar, educator, and violence-prevention innovator, Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS, has devoted more than 30 years to medical education, clinical practice, and community service at Temple and beyond.
Dr. Goldberg came to Temple as a general surgery resident in 1987, joined the faculty in 1993, and has held a succession of leadership positions over the years, including Chief of the Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Division; Director of the General Surgery Residency Program; and the George S. Peters MD and Louise C. Peters Chair and Professor of Surgery. She served as Interim Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine for 18 months prior to being named dean in September 2022 following a national search.
She also serves on multiple Temple University Health System boards.
A master trauma surgeon, Dr. Goldberg spent 13 years leading Temple’s trauma program -- coming face-to-face with Philadelphia’s gun-violence epidemic. Adamant to stem the tide, she created Cradle to Grave, Fighting Chance, and other community- and patient-engaged violence-prevention programs that have garnered the attention of media outlets such as National Public Radio, ABC World News, CNN, The New York Times, and the Washington Post. She understands the catastrophic damage that a single bullet can inflict on an entire community, as detailed in the Huffington Post.
Multiple awards have lauded Dr. Goldberg for her groundbreaking work, including the The Philadelphia Award, recognizing extraordinary civic commitment and social responsibility.
A fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Goldberg has been named among the Best Doctors in America -- and is likewise acclaimed for teaching. She’s earned The Great Teacher Award (Temple University’s highest teaching honor), the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, and multiple Golden Apple awards – among others. Two graduating classes at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine have dedicated their yearbooks to her. Moreover, in 2021, the American College of Surgeons designated her a Master Surgeon Educator.
As Vice Chair of the American Board of Surgery (ABS), Dr. Goldberg provides leadership at the national level. She served on the ABS Board of Directors (now the ABS Council) since 2018 when she was nominated to the ABS by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. She lectures and teaches at universities, academic medical centers and major professional association conferences.
Her research has focused on risk assessment for breast cancer gene mutations in minority families, therapeutic and interventional trials for critically ill patients, and radiographic assessment for early identification of complications from penetrating trauma.
Her publications have appeared in leading journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Annals of Surgery, and The American Journal of Surgery, and she is an editorial board member of The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and a reviewer for the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. In addition, she has contributed more than a dozen chapters to texts, including The Trauma Manual: Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Fifth Edition, (Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2019).
Dr. Goldberg received her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania (magna cum laude) and her medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (AOA), then completed her residency in General Surgery at Temple University Hospital and a fellowship in traumatology and critical care at the University of Maryland, with additional postgraduate leadership training at Harvard and Drexel Universities.
She’s a bit like Temple itself: tough, effective, and caring.