Meet the Experts

We sat down with Dr. Cinar to learn more about the current state and future of preclinical pulmonary fibrosis research.

Dr. Ambalavanan is a board-certified physician-scientist in Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal medicine. He currently serves as Professor and Director of the Translational Research in Normal and Disordered Development (TReNDD) Program and the Division of Neonatal Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. On this segment of Meet The Experts, we speak with Dr. Ambalavanan about what drives his research forward.

Dr. Elizabeth DiRenzo is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is currently a practicing speech-language pathologist in the Stanford Voice and Swallowing Center. Dr. DiRenzo’s research lab is most likely the only one in the world that specializes in laryngeal disease resulting from injury post cigarette and e-cigarette exposure.

Dr. Mai ElMallah is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine. The ElMallah lab studies the control of breathing and pulmonary mechanisms of various rare genetic diseases in mouse models. Currently, the lab is focused on ALS and Pompe disease mouse models. They research the impact of gene therapy on respiratory insufficiency. Dr. ElMallah is at the forefront of preclinical rare disease research, and we were able to get her thoughts on the field and learn more about her work!

Dr. Jonathan Phillips is a Principal Scientist and Global Discovery Research Lead for respiratory drug delivery at Amgen. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of respiratory drug delivery, and has been involved in the discovery and support of ground breaking compounds for diseases such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and COPD.

Dr. Donata Vercelli is a Regents Professor at The University of Arizona, as well as Director of the Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases, and Associate Director for the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center. Dr. Vercelli’s group research the complex interactions between genetics, epigenetics and the environment that control the susceptibility to complex lung diseases, such as allergy and asthma. Dr. Vercelli was kind enough to share her thoughts and experiences working in this field.

Dr. Jeroen Vanoirbeek is a research Associate Professor at KU Leuven. His interests are occupational and environmental exposure assessment and toxicology, with a special focus on experimental lung immune toxicology.

Dr. Sathish Venkatachalem is an Associate Professor for the School of Pharmacy at North Dakota State University. Dr. Venkatachalem’s lab focuses on lung diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, and pulmonary hypertension. This group is leading the research on elucidating the role of sex steroids in lung diseases like asthma. We were lucky enough to sit down with Dr. Venkatachalem to get his thoughts on the current state and future of asthma research!

Dr. Vera Krymskaya is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The Krymskaya lab focuses on preclinical and translational research in rare and common lung diseases from pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) to asthma. We sat down with Dr. Krymskaya to learn more about her work and get her thoughts on the current state and future of preclinical rare lung disease research.

Dr. Carolyn Baglole is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University. Her laboratory focuses on how chronic lung diseases such as COPD are associated with environmental exposures, particularly cigarette smoke. We were able to sit down with her to learn more about her research and get her thoughts on preclinical pulmonary toxicology research!

Dr. Laura Crotty Alexander is an associate professor of medicine at the University of California San Diego, and staff physician and researcher at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Her research interests are primarily focused on E-cigarettes. She studies the impact of E-cigarettes on airway inflammation and innate immune function. We were able to sit down with Dr. Crotty Alexander to learn more about her research and get her thoughts on the field!

Dr. Ian Davis is a Professor and Principal Investigator in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at The Ohio State University. Research in the Davis lab is focused on the pathophysiologic effects of pulmonary viral infections. More specifically, this group studies the effects of influenza A infections on alveolar epithelial cell function in a mouse model of influenza induced ARDS. Dr. Davis and his lab are at the forefront of preclinical infectious pulmonary disease research. We sat down with him to learn more about his work and get his insights on the current state of the field.

Dr. Andrew Halayko is a Principal Investigator in the Departments of Internal Medicine & Physiology and Pathophysiology at the University of Manitoba. The Halayko lab focuses on the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma and is at the forefront of preclinical asthma research. We sat down with Dr. Halayko to learn more about his work and get his thoughts on the current state and future of asthma research.

Dr. Oakes and Dr. Bellini are PIs for the Integrated Cardiovascular and Pulmonary team at Northeastern University. Their research focuses on the pulmonary and cardiovascular consequences of inhaled cannabis. This group is at the forefront of preclinical respiratory research for cannabis. We were lucky enough to sit down with them and get their thoughts on the current state and future of cannabis-related cardiopulmonary research.

Dr. Harry Karmouty-Quintana is a PI in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston. The Karmouty lab studies the mechanisms behind vascular remodeling and fibrosis as well as pulmonary hypertension associated with chronic lung diseases. Specifically, the lab is interested in how adenosine, hyaluronan and a novel developmental gene called Six1 contribute to these pathologies. His lab is at the forefront of preclinical chronic lung disease research and we were able to sit down with him to learn more about his work !

Dr. Loren Wold is a Professor in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He is also the Assistant Dean for Biological Health Research in the OSU College of Nursing. Dr. Wold’s lab studies the effects of Alzheimer’s disease on cardiac function, the effects of e-cigarette usage on the cardiovascular system, and the cardiac effects of dust from the collapsed World Trade Center on first responders in a preclinical model. We were able to sit down with him to learn more about his research and get his thoughts on the current state and future of inhalation toxicology research.