Contact
Office: 305-243-6387
Roles
JMH-MICU Medical Director
PCCM-Fellowship Program Director
Pulmonary Vascular Diseases
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Biography
My interest in pulmonary and critical care medicine started as a clinical research associate for the lung-heart transplant program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This is the busiest thoracic transplant center on the West coast and the second busiest in the country. To continue my career, I went to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where I trained in internal medicine including one year as a chief resident. During this year, I was able to expand my research related to lung disease resulting in an oral presentation at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) annual meeting. I completed my pulmonary and critical care fellowship at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). During my third year of fellowship and my post-doctoral year, both supported by a T32, I expanded my research to include mechanisms of ventilatory acclimatization to chronic hypoxia in PAH under the mentorship of Drs. Frank Powell, John West and Peter Wagner. Initially, we developed a rodent model to study time-dependent changes in the isocapnic ventilatory response to hypoxia. We established that plasticity in the central nervous system (CNS), in addition to plasticity known for the carotid body, contributes to ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia in PAH rat models. We also investigated the molecular signals for CNS plasticity in ventilatory chemoreflexes during chronic, sustained hypoxia (CSH), with the goal of developing a translational model for patients with PAH. Finally, we demonstrated the role of inflammatory cytokines in signaling neural plasticity with chronic hypoxia in PAH. The significance of this research on chemoreflex plasticity and acclimatization to hypoxia has led to the development of new therapeutic approaches and provide a better understanding of the consequences of chronic hypoxemia in patients with PAH. During this time, I also completed the UCSD-Clinical Research Enhancement through Supplemental Training (CREST Program). Three years ago I joined the division of Pulmonary and Critical Care medicine, currently I am the fellowship associate program director, the medical ICU medical director at JMH and co-director of the pulmonary vascular disease program -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
Licensures and Certifications
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Honors & Awards
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Teaching Interests
Graduate Medical Education -
Research Interests
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Critical Care Outcomes -
Publications
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Professional Activities
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