Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD
Title
Chief, Section of Neonatology, Perinatal and Pulmonary Biology
Appointment
Professor
Email
jeff.whitsett@cchmc.org
Phone
513-636-4830
Fax
513-636-7868
Bio
Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD, is chief of the Section of Neonatology, Perinatal and Pulmonary Biology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Dr. Whitsett received his medical degree from Columbia University, in New York, and has been a faculty member since 1977. He is internationally known for his research in pulmonary medicine, as well as for his clinical expertise in neonatology.
Dr. Whitsett has made a series of groundbreaking contributions in pulmonary medicine. His major pioneering work has been on surfactant proteins A, B, C, and D, cloning their genes, and clarifing their roles in lung development.
Throughout his career, Dr. Whitsett has had the remarkable ability to move from molecular biology, to animal models, to diagnosis and therapy of human disease. He played a critical role in making surfactant protein replacement a routine tool for treating immature lungs and respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. His laboratory has contributed to the identification of a number of genes critical for lung formation and function. Mutations in genes regulating surfactant homeostasis were shown to cause acute and chronic lung disease in infants and adults.
Dr. Whitsett is a member of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences and is the recipient of the Mead Johnson Award, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Merit Award, the first Julius Comroe Lectureship in Pulmonary Research from FASEB, the William Cooper Procter Award from Cincinnati Children's, the Amberson Lecture Award of the American Thoracic Society, and the prestigious Daniel Drake Medal for scientific contributions from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Dr. Whitsett is the author of over 400 papers in both the basic science and clinical literature.
Dr. Whitsett's Profile
The Research Horizons article, "Mutations in Surfactant Proteins Cause Fatal Lung Diseases in Newborns and Children" profiles Dr. Whitsett and some of his research.
Credentials
MD: Columbia University, New York, NY, 1973.
Residency: Pediatrics, Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City, 1974 to 1976.
Fellowship: Neonatology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 1976 to 1977.
Awards and Honors
Research
- Cystic fibrosis research
- Lung morphogenesis
- Control of gene expression in the respiratory epithelium
- Gene delivery and therapy
Publications, Most Recent
Find more publications by Dr. Whitsett through PubMed
Nogee LM, Dunbar AE, Wert SE, Askin F, Hamvas A, Whitsett JA. A mutation in the surfactant protein C gene associated with familial interstitial lung disease.N. Engl. J. Med, 344:573-579, 2001.
Perl AKT, Wert SE, Nagy A, Lobe CG, Whitsett JA. Early restriction of peripheral and proximal cell lineages during formation of the lung.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA, 99:10482-10487, 2002.
Hokuto I, Ikegami M, Yoshida M, Takeda K, Akira S, Perl AKT, Hull WM, Wert SE, Whitsett JA. Stat-3 is required for pulmonary homeostasis during hyperoxia.J. Clin. Invest, 113:28-37, 2004.
Wan H, Kaestner KH, Ang SL, Ikegami M, Finkelman FD, Stahlman MT, Fulkerson PC, Rothenberg ME, Whitsett JA. Foxa2 regulates alveolarization and goblet cell hyperplasia.Development, 131:953-964, 2004.
Special Interests
Dr. Jeffrey Whitsett's laboratory seeks to:
- Elucidate the hierarchy of transcriptional controls and signaling cascades which determine commitment of progenitor cells that produce the differentiated epithelial cells lining the primordial and mature respiratory tract
- Determine mechanisms controlling cell-specific gene transcription governing lung epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation that will provide insight into the pathogenesis of acute and chronic lung disorders such as respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary fibrosis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other disorders of surfactant homeostasis
Transcriptional control of surfactant expression, lung morphogenesis and function are being assessed. Conditional systems for gene targeting and addition have been developed for study of lung formation, and function, as well as for identifying lung progenitor cells and their fates in the mouse. Transgenic mouse models are being utilized to understand the pathogenesis of genetic and inflammatory lung disorders and to develop gene therapy for respiratory disease. The role of surfactant in innate host defense and lung function is studied.
Related Areas
This person works in these other areas at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center:
