As a child with allergies and asthma, I always wanted to work with children who had trouble breathing. I’m a board-certified pediatric pulmonologist and director of the Rare Lung Disease Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. I see children from all over the country and around the world with unknown or poorly understood lung conditions.
Conditions I treat include:
I perform flexible bronchoscopy, including targeted transbronchial biopsies. I’m one of the few pediatric pulmonologists in the world who regularly performs whole lung lavages (a therapeutic procedure) in children with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (rare lung disorder).
Even in patients with a known diagnosis, there is often not a well-defined treatment plan. My team and I partner with families to develop an individualized treatment plan for each patient that best fits them, their goals and the family’s needs. I work with a multidisciplinary team, including a dedicated nurse, dietician and respiratory therapist. I often see patients in conjunction with other specialists, such as immunologists, bone marrow transplant specialists and rheumatologists. My colleagues and I often see a patient during the same clinic visit to develop a comprehensive care plan for each patient.
My primary research interest is to improve the characterization, early identification and treatment of pulmonary injury caused by the immune system to improve patient outcomes. My two current areas of focus are:
I am unable to study in-depth all the diseases I clinically manage. But, I believe all of my patients and families deserve access to the benefits and promise of research. Therefore, I also facilitate partnerships with other researchers, including many basic scientists, and provide the clinical support needed to facilitate the translational study of these rare pulmonary diseases. This research often happens through n = 1 studies, which involve only one patient or family.
When I’m not seeing patients or involved in research, I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling the world and training for marathons. My wife and I have twice been awarded the President of the United States Volunteer Service Award for our work hosting foreign exchange students — one from Albania and another from Thailand. I grew up in a suburb of Houston, Texas and have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, so if I weren't a doctor, my dream job would be working for NASA and the space program.
MD: University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine, Dallas, TX, 2008.
Residency: Pediatrics, St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Louis, MO, 2011.
Fellowship: Pediatric Pulmonary, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 2014.
Certification: Pediatric Pulmonary, 2014; Pediatrics, 2012.
Childhood interstitial lung diseases; lung transplantation
Pulmonary Medicine, Rare Lung Diseases, Hemangioma and Vascular Malformations, Lung Transplant, Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia
Fibrosis
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Childhood to adulthood: Accounting for age dependence in healthy-reference distributions in 129 Xe gas-exchange MRI. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 2023; 89:1117-1133.
6 Xe Gas-Exchange MRI As a Biomarker to Detect Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome in Children and Young Adults Following Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation. Transplantation and cellular therapy. 2023; 29:s5-s6.
Pediatric 129 Xe Gas-Transfer MRI-Feasibility and Applicability. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2022; 56:1207-1219.
Lung Transplantation Advanced Prediction Tool: Determining Recipient's Outcome for a Certain Donor. Transplantation. 2022; 106:2019-2030.
Respiratory Infections in Patients with Primary Immunodeficiency. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. 2022; 10:683-691.e1.
Modern Lung Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Screen for Pulmonary Complications in Patients with Dyskeratosis Congenita. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2021; 204:1340-1343.
Pathogenesis and Treatment of Refractory Disease Courses in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Refractory Arthritis, Recurrent Macrophage Activation Syndrome and Chronic Lung Disease. Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America. 2021; 47:585-606.
Pulmonary Complications After Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant. Frontiers in Oncology. 2021; 11.
Clinicopathologic Conference: A Four-Year-Old Child With Digital Clubbing. Arthritis Care and Research. 2021; 73:1379-1386.
Quantitative inspiratory-expiratory chest CT to evaluate pulmonary involvement in pediatric hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation patients. Pediatric Pulmonology. 2021; 56:1026-1035.
2/27/2015
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