Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
Committed to caring for patients with lung disease and for
those who are critically ill.
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Dear Alumni and Friends,
Our division has much to be proud of. In the last ten years we have:
- grown in size from 46 to 71 faculty members.
- reached its highest level of federal and non-federal research funding.
- received multi-investigator awards, including PETAL, SPIROMICS, the ALA Airways Research Clinical Network, and the PrecISE Asthma Network.
- obtained its highest number of K awards and F32 awards.
- created new cutting-edge clinical programs, including the severe asthma program and the interventional pulmonology program, while others have grown considerably, such as the assisted ventilation program, the cystic fibrosis program, and the lung transplantation program.
- launched new joint Emergency Medicine-Critical Care and Cardiology-Critical Care fellowships, led by Dr. Kevin Chan and now Dr. Jakob McSparron.
In addition, over the last five years, the division has consistently been highly ranked in the U.S. News & World Report pulmonology rankings. Similar growth and success in both clinical care and research funding has been realized within the pulmonary section at the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration Medical Center, under the skilled leadership of Jane Deng, MD, MS. While these accomplishments have been noteworthy, I personally feel that it was the division’s response to the COVID pandemic in which our faculty and staff were at their very best.
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I am delighted to announce that MeiLan Han, MD, MS will be the next chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine here at Michigan Medicine, effective January 1, 2022. She will be the seventh chief and first woman to lead the division.
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"I’m thrilled to have been appointed as the division chief for Pulmonary and Critical Care at Michigan Medicine beginning in January," MeiLan Han stated. "Dr. Standiford has built a world class group of physicians, scientists and educators, and I hope to be able to continue to support and grow this amazing group of individuals to find cures and care for patients with pulmonary and critical care illnesses. The past two years have been an incredibly challenging time for our faculty and health system. Yet we have also adapted and learned much about new ways to care for one another and our patients. Over the upcoming year, my goal will be to reassess how we can best support our faculty and patients moving forward into this new era. I look forward to updating all of you often and figuring out better ways we can serve our community at large." |
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Dr. Han’s background and track record make her an outstanding choice. Dr. Han earned her BS and MD degrees from the University of Washington, then completed her internal medicine residency and pulmonary and critical care fellowship at the University of Michigan (U-M). As a junior faculty, she earned an MS in Biostatistics and Clinical Trial Design from the U-M. Dr. Han is currently Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Michigan Airways Program.
Dr. Han is an outstanding physician investigator and internationally-renown clinical and translational researcher. Her clinically oriented research focuses on pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and approaches to therapy in patients with COPD. Dr. Han was a key contributor into identifying usable and standard COPD phenotypes as part of the Scientific Committee of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD Consortium). She has authored over 300 manuscripts in journals such as Am J Respir Crit Care Med, Eur Respir J, Chest, Thorax, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, PLoS One, PLoS Genetics, JAMA Internal Medicine, N Eng J Med, J Clin Invest, and JCI Insight among others. Dr. Han has a long history of federal, foundation, and pharmaceutical industry funding to support her research program. She currently serves as principal investigator on multiple federal and non-federal grants, including an NIH K24, R01, and U01, as well as site PI for several consortiums with other institutions and from industry.
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Dr. Han has been recognized for her outstanding work with many accolades and awards:
- Election into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP)
- European Respiratory Society’s Gold Medal in COPD
- University of Michigan Medical School Dean’s Clinical and Health Services Research Award
- MICHR Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award - a testament to the multiple trainees and junior faculty she has and will continue to mentor within and outside our institution
In addition, Dr. Han has influence on the national and international stages with her involvement as Associate Editor of Am J Respir Crit Care Med, but also as a member of the GOLD Consortium and the COPD Foundation Board, and American Lung Association Scientific Advisory Committee. She also recently authored a book for the lay public, Breathing Lessons: A Doctor’s Guide to Lung Health.
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On a personal note, I am most impressed with Dr. Han’s thoughtful approach to problem solving and her ability to get things done. She is a true team builder and proven leader that people want to follow. Needless to say, I am extremely pleased that Dr. Han will be leading our division into its next chapter.
Sincerely,
Chief, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
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MeiLan Han, MD, MS was recently interviewed by Salon Magazine to talk about the importance of lifetime lung health - something that COVID brought to the surface. "We've learned a lot about how to treat patients, for instance with COVID, during the pandemic. But to me, the pandemic itself provides this opportunity to help people understand that the health of their lungs is something that occurs over the life course. We shouldn't be thinking only about our lungs at the point that they start to fail" stated Dr. Han. Read more.
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Njira Lugogo, MD, MS led the work to bring the prestigious NIH Precise Asthma Network (PrecISE) to Michigan Medicine - one of only two NIH funded severe asthma networks in the country.
The Precision Interventions for Severe and/or Exacerbation-Prone Asthma Network (PrecISE) is a clinical study that involves 30 sites located around the United States and United Kingdom. Using precision medicine for severe asthma, the study focuses on patients ages 12 and older with severe asthma that remains uncontrolled or is associated with frequent exacerbations. Precision medicine is an approach to the prevention and treatment of disease that uses information about an individual's or group's specific disease process, symptoms, and treatment responses, to identify the medicines and therapies that are most likely to be effective for them. There are several interventions that will be compared to placebo in a randomized clinical trial design including clazakizumab (anti-IL6), broncho-vaxom, imatinib (Tyrosine kinase inhibitor), cavosonstat (GSNOR inhibitor) and medium chain triglycerides. Eligibility to receive particular therapies is based on baseline predictive biomarkers. This is an adaptive clinical trial design therefore the likelihood of participants being assigned to particular arms is iterative and will change as information regarding responders is obtained during the trial.
Dr. Lugogo will be working collaboratively with Dr. Sally Wenzel from the University of Pittsburgh and will be actively recruiting patients with severe and exacerbation prone asthma for this study beginning in early 2022.
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Philip Choi, MD received a grant from the organization ALS Finding a Cure to create an online educational course aimed at training pulmonary physicians to be better equipped to care for patients with ALS. His team's proposal was one of four accepted projects for the ALSFAC-WE-CARE Grant, which was a call for projects centered around providing compassionate and accessible ALS care.
Robert Dickson, MD and Michael Sjoding, MD have been appointed Deputy Directors for the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care (MCIRCC). Dr. Sjoding will also act as the MCIRCC's Associate Director. Learn more.
Theodore Iwashyna, MD, PhD and MeiLan Han, MD, MS selected to receive the 2020-2021 Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award. Learn more.
Raghu Penke, PhD received the Parker B. Francis fellowship from Francis Foundation. Learn more
Hallie Prescott, MD, MSc was recently awarded a Veterans Affairs grant, titled "Optimizing Veteran Recovery from Sepsis (OVeR-Sepsis)". In addition, Dr. Prescott was selected to serve as vice-chair of the research committee for the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) Guidelines. The recently updated guidelines (released in October 2021) focus on improving the care of sepsis patients after they are discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU).
Richard Simon, MD received the Richard C. Talamo Distinguished Clinical Achievement Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Learn more.
Thomas Valley, MD, MSc received the Michigan Medicine Department of Internal Medicine David A. Spahlinger Early Career Endowment Award. The award is competitively assigned to junior faculty.
Rachel Zemans, MD was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigators (ASCI). Learn more.
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Clinical Spotlight
MedPulm - A Dedicated Team of Highly Skilled Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Fighting COVID
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Medicine Pulmonary (MedPulm) is a team of fifteen advanced practice providers (APPs) that is made up of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. In its infancy the team was comprised of four APPs that got the service off the ground through creativity and perseverance. All four original members (Heather Collins-PA, Rebecca Priebe-NP, Brooke Christofferson-NP, and Vikas Sood-NP) remain on the team in one capacity or another.
MedPulm has become a chameleon over the years, inventing and reinventing its work. As the team has grown, so has their skill set and patient population. In the most recent transformation MedPulm became a COVID Intensive Care Unit (ICU) team in addition to their existing patient populations.
The team rose to the occasion when the first COVID patient arrived at Michigan Medicine - the first COVID patient for the MedPulm team. The APPs practiced donning and doffing their personal protective equipment, all the while setting aside their own fears about the unknown to bravely move forward.
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“When we admitted the first COVID patient to Michigan Medicine on our service, I told my husband that the pandemic had arrived in Michigan. Only a few days later there was a stay-at-home order. My husband said he felt like he was sending his wife out every day for war. And it did feel like a battle. As MedPulm revamped itself to care for the sickest patients, we had the support from the pulmonary division and the community." - MedPulm team member, Laura Roaden
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“We all had the same fears, but we also all had each other's backs. Every APP and physician on the MedPulm team has gone above and beyond to look out for one another's physical and mental well-being. We studied the news and infectious disease literature to make pocket cards with COVID practice guidelines. We had surgical caps and facemasks made by local crafters so that everyone had PPE. We debriefed with each other and cried six feet apart. And because we couldn't give each other warm hugs, we gave each other warm coffee instead." - MedPulm team member, Denyse Stepka
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But as the battle with COVID raged and ravaged our state, MedPulm stood fast. Team member, Lisa Anderson, was acutely aware of the battle behind and ahead for the team. “We faced a lot of challenges and uncertainties, but one thing for sure was we had each other to rely on, cope with, and trudge through the trenches with" Lisa states.
As the pandemic continues at a smolder the team is continuing to reinvent itself; incorporating 10 ICU patients into the mix. Laura Roaden volunteered to be in the first cohort of providers being trained for the ICU. “We are reinventing ourselves again as the newest ICU service- proving that our work as PAs and NPs is vital,” states Laura.
Denyse has found a way to channel the initial fear from the pandemic into motivation. “I have shifted my perspective on fear and put it into action. Fear has empowered me to study harder, take on more challenges, and devote myself to becoming an ICU level provider. “
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When asked what makes her stay, Heather Collins, the first APP ever hired to work on MedPulm team, says “I love being a part of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. The APPs and physicians work so well together in a collaborative, team based approach. I also enjoy the fact that I have the ability to take care of a subset of patients that require specialized knowledge and skills that is delivered at Michigan Medicine."
MedPulm will continue to evolve, and revolutionize the role of the APP within the Pulmonary Division and at Michigan Medicine. Although the endpoint continues to change, one thing is clear - MedPulm will unite and provide the same exceptional care that patients and providers have come to expect over the decade the team has been in service.
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Clinical Research Spotlight
Andrew Admon
In this Clinical Research Spotlight, Dr. Admon talks about the research project he submitted with his K08 award proposal and what he hopes to achieve.
What clinical problem are you attempting to address?
Acute respiratory failure leads to 2,000,000 hospitalizations and 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Outcomes after respiratory failure vary widely across hospitals, suggesting that improvements to how care is organized and delivered at some hospitals may improve survival. Yet, an increasingly common feature of hospital care that may be working against patients with respiratory failure is care team fragmentation - discontinuous care spread out across multiple clinicians during a hospitalization. Over the past few decades, broad changes to how we organize and deliver hospital care have encouraged more frequent turnover among inpatient teams, contributing to increasingly fragmented care. While these changes have typically been made with specific positive goals in mind, we’ve not yet evaluated their potentially unintended consequences and what to do about them. Care team fragmentation is also a perfect problem through which to gain new experience applying advanced methods for observational causal inference.
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Gifts to the Pulmonary Division are essential to our mission, it allows us to be at the forefront of cutting edge research, educating the next leaders in the field and providing the best care to our patients. Gifts can be made through multiple vehicles such as cash, securities, pledges, payroll deduct, etc. Please visit our giving page for more information on funds that support our mission.
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The Joseph P. Lynch III Endowed Fellowship Fund
The Joseph P. Lynch III Endowed Fellowship fund provides support for fellowship activities, including support for travel and participation in scientific meetings and other educational activities. The ultimate goal is for the fund to reach $500,000 to ensure that the program continues to provide the best to our fellows. Please consider supporting to help reach our goal! The division continues to match contributions up to $100,000. To give, please click here.
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Mandy Kinney Wheaton, MD, Memorial Fund
Amanda “Mandy” Kinney Wheaton, MD, a prior member of the Department of Internal Medicine community, passed away from cancer in October 2020. Dr. Wheaton touched the lives of those within the Internal Medicine Residency Program and the Divisions of Hospital Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and was well-known for her passion and determination for her patients. The Mandy Kinney Wheaton, MD, Memorial Fund is a tribute to her dedication as a clinician, and to her passion, advocacy, and authenticity. The fund will be used to issue an annual award recognizing a graduating fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine who most embodies Dr. Wheaton’s compassionate spirit. To make a gift, please visit the Mandy Kinney Wheaton, MD, Memorial Fund.
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If you are interested in learning more about ways to support the division, please contact our development partner, Andrea LaFave at (734) 763-6173 or at ajlafave@umich.edu.
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MICHIGAN MEDICINE
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
6220 MSRB III, SPC 5642 | 1150 West Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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