Chief: Joe Sisson, M.D.
Division Personnel:
- Faculty: 20 (17 MDs and 3 PhDs)
- Trainees: 13 (9 clinical fellows, 4 post doctoral fellows)
- Staff: 33
New Faculty:
- John Dickinson, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor. Dr. Dickinson will join the adult cystic fibrosis program and will attend on the critical care medicine team. His research is focused on the role autophagy plays in regulation of airway mucus secretions.
Division Research:
The division’s research seeks to understand the mechanisms of inflammatory lung disease by studying the impacts of aging, infection, and exposure to alcohol, cigarette smoke, and organic dust. Members of the research team have undertaken recent studies examining pro-resolvins and vitamin D as potential mediators of lung inflammation. The model systems used range from cell culture systems to ALI to mouse models to human lung explants.
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Total research dollars for FY 12-13 = $4,008,720 (including VA)
- 6 NIH-funded investigators (Drs. Bailey, Poole, Rennard, Romberger, Sisson, and Wyatt)
- 2 VA Merit Review grant-funded investigators (Drs. LeVan and Wyatt)
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A strong collaboration with the College of Public Health on the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, with Dr. Todd Wyatt serving as the deputy director for the center and principal investigator on a center project. In addition, Dr. Debra Romberger serves as the center’s outreach core director, and Dr. Jill Poole is a co-investigator on one of the center’s research projects. Dr. Sabin Bista has a pilot grant through the center investigating the effect of sleep deprivation on balance markers in farmers.
- Ongoing clinical trials in COPD, smoking cessation, cystic fibrosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis & pulmonary arterial hypertension.
- In 2013 the division produced 35 peer-reviewed publications
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First UNMC Distinguished Scientist Laureate Award
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Dr. Stephen Rennard- 2006
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Dr. Stephen Rennard- 2006
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New Investigator Awards
- Dr. Debra Romberger – 2007
- Dr. Todd Wyatt – 2009
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Dr. Jill Poole – 2011
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Distinguished Scientist Awards
- Dr. Joe Sisson – 2007
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Drs. LeVan, Romberger and Wyatt – 2011
- Dr. Stephen Rennard was honored with the University-wide Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award (ORCA) in 2009.
Other Division Highlights:
- Dr. Jim Murphy leads the adult cystic fibrosis care team who were nationally recognized for their quality outcomes performance in pulmonary function and nutrition.
- Dr. Craig Piquette is the fellowship director and Dr. Candace Huebert the associate fellowship director for the three-year fellowship training program in pulmonary and critical medicine. The division also has a one-year sleep medicine fellowship program with Dr. Sabin Bista as the program director.
- Dr. Craig Piquette recently served on committees to help write the milestones for the internal medicine subspecialties and the pulmonary and critical care milestones.
- Dr. Dave Gannon and former fellow Dr. Ryan Martin developed procedural simulation training for the internal medicine residency program.
- Dr. Candace Huebert has developed the advanced procedural simulation training for pulmonary & critical care fellows.
- Eleven division critical care faculty, in collaboration with three members of the department of anesthesiology, staff The Nebraska Medical Center 64-bed adult intensive care units utilizing a closed ICU model. The faculty also provides clinical care at the VA as well.
- Dr. Teri Barkoukis is currently serving on two national committees: the Sleep Disordered Breathing Committee for the National Sleep Foundation and the Sleep Medicine Fellowship Appeals Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She also is the author of the textbooks “Therapy in Sleep Medicine and “Review of Sleep Medicine.”
- Dr. Michael Summers, as medical director of The Nebraska Medical Center sleep lab, is leading the expansion of the sleep lab from 4-6 beds.
- Dr. Poole recently completed a study funded by the Foundation of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and found a beneficial role for supplemental vitamin D3 in the treatment of chronic hives, which has been accepted for publication in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
- Dr. Rennard is chair of the national Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD study (SPIROMICS) steering committee and the COPD Biomarkers Qualification Consortium. He also serves on the boards of the Alpha-1 Foundation and the COPD Foundation.
- Drs. Amol Patil and Susanna Von Essen serve on the UNMC Institutional Review Board (IRB), and Dr. Trish LeVan is on the IRB at the VA.
- Dr. Romberger was recently been appointed as a physician member of the One Team Clinical Enterprise board of directors.
- Dr. Austin Thompson is currently serving as the chief of the medical staff at The Nebraska Medical Center.
- Dr. Gannon is actively involved in the One Team integration project, co-chairing the clinical enterprise performance improvement group.