Message from Dr. Imre Noth, Division Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care
I am so happy to share our continued growth this past year and moving forward. Exciting things are happening in all aspects of our classic academic endeavors of teaching, research, and clinical excellence. Last year, we started our new service offering bedside procedures such as paracentesis and thoracentesis, which have been met with great enthusiasm and continued growth. We also want to thank our hospitalist colleagues for helping out in staffing this service. As of January, we have added a third attending to the medical ICU who will focus on staffing our APPs to provide top-notch service to our sickest patients. This will help to provide more educational time by attending for residents and medical students.
We also continue to grow our outpatient efforts, most notably by adding Dr. Katie Waybill to the faculty, who is splitting time between us and palliative care. She recently completed an additional year of palliative medicine in Boston after her pulmonary and critical care fellowship at VCU. (Please see the spotlight for details.) Suffice it to say that Katie’s arrival allows the best possible care for our sickest outpatients.
The last arena of clinical growth can be appreciated in the spotlight on Dr. Ellen Volker. Ellen comes to us with a national reputation as a leader in the field after years of experience building an Interventional Pulmonology Program at the National Jewish Hospital in Colorado. She joined Dr. Pandey, and we are excited that a third IP physician, Cole Burks, coming to us from UNC, will join the group in August 2025. This threesome establishes UVA as a regional and national leader in IP.
Last year was no less exciting on the research front. Several recruits to the division, including Tania Velez PhD, Christine Nelson PhD, and Anny Zhou PhD. Professor Zhou will run a new Center for Translational Genomics Initiative for Respiratory Diseases. This year, several new grant awardees were selected for junior and senior-level faculty, practically doubling the research portfolio alone.
Lastly, on the education front, we matched our first fellow for our new sleep medicine fellowship, directed by Eric Davis. This fellowship fills a gap in the state as no other active sleep fellowships exist in Virginia. We also did very well in the pulmonary and critical care match, with no small thanks to our Program Director Tim Scialla, and Associate Program Director Cathy Bonham. Additionally, Drew Harris has been appointed Assistant Dean to oversee continuing medical education.
I hope you’ll enjoy reading about these new programs and people!
~ Imre Noth MD
CLINICAL UPDATE
Pulmonary Palliative Update
We were excited to officially launch our pulmonary-palliative care clinic, a joint effort between PCCM and Palliative Care, in September 2024. This clinic is located in Emily Couric Cancer Center under Palliative Care. It is aimed at patients with end-stage lung disease. It includes multidisciplinary support from nursing (Kim Mechling, RN, and all Palliative Care RNs), social work (Michelle Niesen), chaplaincy, and other interdisciplinary team members.
The clinic is open to patients with end-stage complications or symptoms from COPD, ILD, bronchiectasis, lung transplant, pulmonary hypertension, and other pulmonary diagnoses. The pulm-pall staff work on symptom management (dyspnea, chronic cough), dyspnea-anxiety cycle, pulmonary cachexia, advance care planning, and hospice transitions for patients with end-stage lung disease.
Interventional Pulmonology Update
The Interventional Pulmonology (IP) Program at UVA has been exceedingly busy over the past year. Dr. Subodh Pandey has been working to accommodate all the patients with procedural needs while taking over as Bronchoscopy Director and deftly instructing our fellows in advanced diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Dr. Kat Egressy has been adroitly seeing lung nodule patients wherever possible. Dr. Charles Malpass has been greatly missed.
Dr. Ellen Volker joined the division in October 2024 as Section Chief of Interventional Pulmonology. She has been partnering with leaders at the hospital, the Emily Couric Cancer Center (ECCC), and within the Department of Medicine to expand procedural time and space for the IP program. In January 2025, Interventional Pulmonary also started Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Clinics in the ECCC to better streamline the care for our lung cancer patients.
EDUCATIONAL UPDATE
PCCM FELLOWSHIP
2024 was another wonderful and successful year for the PCCM Fellowship Program!
Sleep Medicine Fellowship
We are happy to report that we have started a new Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program. Our program is the 102nd Sleep Medicine Fellowship in the United States and the only new program this year. We have nine faculty members at UVA with sleep expertise spanning multiple departments. It was a collective effort to pursue GME approval for ACGME accreditation and to partner with the hospital to launch this program. More than 60 applicants applied for our inaugural year, and we are thrilled that Dr. Kiara Cerda will join us as our first fellow in July 2025. Given the great need for clinical and academic pursuits in sleep medicine across Virginia, we anticipate expanding the fellowship program in upcoming years.
RESEARCH UPDATES
Research Updates
Select publications this year spanned the breadth of pulmonary and critical care medicine. Some highlights include publications by our cystic fibrosis (CF) and bronchiectasis team led by Dr. Dana Albon and Dr. Lindsay Somerville. They published the real-world impact of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulator drugs for several aspects of general health in CF patients. Along with Dr. Andrew Barros and CF pharmacy team member Kevin Lonabaugh PharmD, they demonstrated improved iron levels but elevated total cholesterol levels. As CF patients utilizing these breakthrough drugs live longer and healthier lives, attention to these long-term health effects is warranted.
Our interstitial lung disease (ILD) research group includes multiple clinical, translational, and basic scientists, including Drs. Imre Noth, Shwu-Fan Ma, Yong Huang, John Kim, Cathy Bonham, Sam Konkol, Jeffrey Sturek, and Anne Sperling. Dr. John Kim demonstrated an association between plasma Omega-3 fatty acids and progression and survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which generated interest among our patients. In a high-impact publication, Drs. Yong Huang and Imre Noth reported on a plasma proteomic classifier discovered via machine learning methods that discriminates between different forms of ILD. Dr. Bonham collaborated with UVA biomedical engineers to develop a computational method for how environmental changes and treatments affect microvascular remodeling in fibrotic disease and headed UVA’s offering of the RESOLVE-Lung clinical trial, the largest multicenter clinical trial for patients with sarcoidosis to-date. We are proud of our active ILD and sarcoidosis clinical trial group led by Drs. Tessy Paul, Imre Noth, Hannah Mannem, Numaan Malik, and Cathy Bonham, the group is pushing the envelope to discover new treatments for these devastating pulmonary diseases.
Not to be outdone, Dr. Alex Kadl, our MICU director and co-founder of the post-COVID ambulatory clinic, published her work on insomnia after COVID-19, collaborating with Drs. Eric Davis and Kyle Enfield. Dr. Sturek co-authored the results of several large multicenter clinical trials in COVID-19 and published analyses of NIH funding for the COVID-19 pandemic response together with Dr. Taison Bell. Dr. Sturek is also an expert in B cell biology and oncopulmonary disease, with a thriving lab celebrating first-time NIH R01 funding this year.
Additional seasoned investigator teams are led by Dr. Anne Sperling, a celebrated T-cell immunologist with expertise in asthma and fibrotic lung disease, and Dr. Mike Shim, leader of our obstructive lung disease clinical and basic science research programs. In 2024, the division was thrilled to recruit Christine Nelson PhD., an expert in T-cell immunity to mycobacterial infection, and Tania Velez PhD., an expert in T-cell regulatory responses in fibrotic lung disease. We look forward to expanding and enhancing our research portfolio in 2025 and thank all those who have collaborated and supported the division in our research efforts.
New Research Faculty
Dr. Tania Velez PhD, joined the PCCM division at UVA as a postdoctoral fellow and was promoted to research assistant professor in the Sperling Lab in May 2024. In her independent role, she is focused on determining the dichotomy of regulatory mechanisms in human and animal models of interstitial lung disease and lung injury. Dr. Velez has identified a specific subset of T regulatory cells that have detrimental roles in lung injury responses and is actively working to reveal their role during fibrosis.
Dr. Christine Nelson PhD, joined the PCCM division research faculty in July 2024. Dr. Nelson’s lab studies the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and other non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The Nelson Lab explores how the immune response in the lungs can be either protective, like during vaccination, or pathogenic, and lead to post-infection lung disease. The lab is leveraging its research to design novel vaccines and therapies for mycobacterial infections. Some of the projects in the lab are examining 1) the role of co-stimulation in determining T-cell protective capacity, 2) how the cytokine IL-26 can influence T-cell differentiation, 3) T & B cell interactions in granulomas, and 4) developing an animal model of NTM infection that better model human disease. Dr. Nelson was selected for the 2024-2026 cohort of iTHRIV Scholars for her project “Degree and timing of T-cell co-stimulation determine protective immunity to M. tuberculosis infection”. The Nelson Lab welcomed its first members, Danielle and Maryam, in January 2025.
Dr. Anny Xiaobo Zhou’s PhD and her research group has recently joined the PCCM division at UVA from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Zhou’s research aims to decode the function of the non-coding variants associated with lung diseases in Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) through multidisciplinary and integrative approaches. These translational genomic discoveries will likely pinpoint novel pathways, mechanisms, and potential drug targets for COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, and asthma. Her team has pioneered the identification of functional variants, assigning causal genes to non-coding GWAS loci, including the most significant GWAS loci at 4q31 for COPD and 17q22 for asthma. Dr. Zhou will also serve as the inaugural Director of the Center for Translational Genomics Initiative to identify novel therapeutic targets implicated by human genetic discoveries in complex lung diseases.
Center for Translational Genomics Initiative for Respiratory Diseases
With the support of the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and Department of Genome Sciences, the Center for Translational Genomics Initiative for Respiratory Diseases was established to accelerate the translation of human genetics discoveries to the biology of pulmonary diseases. The Center is an organizational platform that fosters collaboration across disciplines, divisions, and departments for multidisciplinary and translational research.
The Center will hold monthly hybrid lectures from renowned speakers within UVA and nationwide. The Annual Summer Symposium in August will highlight advanced research in pulmonary diseases with a strong translational genomic focus. Furthermore, the Center will also provide unparalleled training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees to advance their career goals.
The Center will partner with various departments to improve treatments of respiratory diseases, including ILD, COPD, asthma, influenza, and COVID-19, through integrative approaches. A few research areas will be emphasized and highlighted to determine the function of genetic factors.
1) Metabolic regulation, especially roles of mitochondria on alveolar regeneration through intrinsic cellular signaling and cell-niche interaction.
2) Function of various RNA modifications in regulating cellular metabolism and alveolar repair/regeneration.
3) Cell-matrix interaction in response to environmental stimulation such as viral infection and smoke exposure.
4) Cell-type specific isoforms during normal lung repair and/or disease progression.
In addition to traditional NIH grant sources, the Center will actively seek to raise funding from industry and philanthropy with the support and guidance of the UVA Medical School.
EVENTS
H. Charles Malpass III Memorial Grand Rounds
The inaugural H. Charles Malpass III Memorial Grand Rounds on May 24, 2024, featured Dr. Cynthia Brown from Indiana University in honor of the legacy of Dr. Charles Malpass. This grand round was a joint presentation from the Department of Medicine and the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care following the death of our dear colleague Charlie Malpass. Dr. Brown was on faculty at UVA during Charlie’s fellowship, and like Charlie, she is held in esteem for her dedication to fellow education and patient care.
The Malpass Memorial Lecture will be held on June 6, 2025, with our Fellowship Graduation. More details of the event and speakers will come as they become available. Stay tuned for more information about the events surrounding the Grand Rounds as we remember Dr. Malpass and celebrate his enduring impact on the medical community.
End of Summer Barbeque
On August 23, 2024, the division held an End of Summer Barbeque at Pen Park. It was a beautiful day with a great turnout from faculty, fellows, research associates, staff, and their families! Delicious food, such as barbeque chicken with all the fixings, and cookies were served.
Families had a great time with bocce ball, badminton, and football. The division enjoyed a wonderful evening of chatting and catching up with one another.
End-of-Year Party
On December 12, 2024, PCCM had its annual EOY Party, this time at Greencroft Country Club, which offered a variety of delicious foods and a warm place to mingle with colleagues. To mix things up, multiple honors were presented during our first annual Pulmy Awards. We had a wonderful turnout of faculty, fellows, and staff to ring in the holiday season.
Pulmy 2024 Winners:
• The Little Miss Sunshine Award: For the person who always brings positivity and cheerfulness to the office. Winner: Dr. Katie Waybill
• The Trend Setter Award: For forward-thinking and innovation. Winner: Emily Wells
• The Culture Champion Award: For embodying company values and fostering team culture. Winners: Dr. Jeffrey Sturek and Kristin Miller
• Fashion Week Award: Best dressed. Winner: Dr. Hannah Mannem
• Best Mane: Best hair. Winner: Dr. Drew Harris
• Funkiest socks: Best socks. Winner: Dr. Eric Davis
• Loch Ness Award: Least likely to be found. Winner: Dr. John Kim
• On the Dot award: Best at meeting tight deadlines. Winner: Dr. Cathy Bonham
• Tech Expert Award: The person prepared to assist and understand precisely what’s wrong. Winner: Dr. Andrew Barros
• The Gold Medalist: Everyone at work knows someone who exercises during lunchtime or goes to the gym right after their shift… even though they aren’t Olympians, anyone who can work for eight hours AND exercise deserves a gold medal. Winner: Dr. Ryan Sessums
View entire March edition of Medicine Matters
Filed Under: Basic Research, Clinical Research, DOM in the News, Education, In the Know, News and Notes, Notable Achievements, Publications, Research, Top News
Tags: Awards, fellows, fellowships, March 2025, March 2025 Medicine Matters, Medical Grand Rounds, newsletter, profile, profiles, Publications, Pulmonary, Research, Residents, staff