Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Research
The Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine has a large number of active research programs with ongoing studies in vascular biology, gas exchange, host-pathogen interactions, human genetics, gene regulation, cytoskeletal dynamics, lung regrowth, quantitative imaging, CFTR, signal transduction, cancer biology, oxidant biochemistry, and exercise physiology. These projects are focused on lung disorders such as pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung diseases, sarcoidosis, lung cancer, and cystic fibrosis. Research is supported through competitive grants through the NIH, the Cancer Research Institute for Texas, the American Heart Association, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and other sources. Divisional research is also coupled to an active research training program funded through a T32 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Some of the primary faculty involved in divisional research are listed below.
![Dr. Muhanned Abu-Hijleh](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/abu-hijleh-muhanned-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Novel methods in interventional pulmonology; device and new IP technology trials; endobronchial valve trials; pulmonary nodules; management of advanced COPD/ emphysema
![Dr. Tony Babb](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/babb-tony-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Respiratory effects of obesity in children and adults; mechanisms of exertional dyspnea; exercise ventilatory response in obese, aged, and normal adults
![Dr. Sonja Bartolome](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/bartolome-sonja-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Outcomes in portopulmonary hypertension; recognition and treatment of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension
![Dr. John Battaile](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/battaile-john-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Clinical trials in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT); clinical phenotypes of HHT
![Dr. Catherine Chen](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/chen-catherine-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Biomedical informatics; clinical decision making; disease registries
![Dr. Kelly Chin](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/chin-kelly-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Clinical, hemodynamic, and imaging predictors of outcomes in pulmonary hypertension (PH); clinical trials in PH; role of serotonin transporter in PH
![Dr. Sylvain DeLisle](/departments/internal-medicine/assets/default-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Analytical methods to study health care systems; automated surveillance for infectious outbreaks; clinical decisions support systems
![Dr. John Fitzgerald](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/fitzgerald-john-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Clinical trials in interstitial lung diseases
![Dr. Guosheng Fu](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/fu-guosheng-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Vascular invasion during tumor angiogenesis
![Dr. Craig Glazer](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/glazer-craig-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Clinical trials in interstitial lung diseases
![Dr. Kara Goss](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/goss-kara-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Acute and Chronic Right Heart Failure, Late Cardiopulmonary Sequelae of Extreme Premature Birth, Pulmonary Vascular Disease/Pulmonary Hypertension
![](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/hsia-connie-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Postnatal compensatory lung regrowth and remodeling; hypoxia signaling and adaptation; pathways of lung protection against injury; quantitative imaging of the lung; pulmonary sarcoidosis
![Dr. Raksha Jain](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/jain-raksha-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Inflammatory and endocrine dysfunction in cystic fibrosis; sex disparities in immune activation and CF outcomes; Pseudomonas pathogenesis
![Dr. Vaidehi Kaza](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/kaza-vaidehi-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Clinical features of lung transplant populations; antibody-mediated lung allograft rejection
![Dr. Chad Newton](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/newton-chad-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Biomarker discovery and clinical outcomes in interstitial lung diseases
![Dr. Lance Terada](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/terada-lance-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Nox enzymes and ROS signal transduction; epigenetic control of cellular anchorage; lung cancer
![Dr. Fernando Torres](/departments/internal-medicine/divisions/pulmonary-critical-care/assets/torres_fernando-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Clinical trials in pulmonary hypertension; clinical features and outcomes in pulmonary hypertension and lung transplant
![Dr. Ru Feng Wu](/departments/internal-medicine/assets/default-square.jpg)
Research Interests:
Ras and Rho signaling through the Shc adapter