Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Dr. Alder’s research focuses on understanding the role of telomere length in human health and disease. His current interest is exploring the mechanisms by which telomere dysfunction causes age-related lung diseases including pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema. The Alder lab uses a number of approaches to explore that pathogenesis of short-telomere mediated disease including genetics, cell biology, and animal models with the hope that these studies will lead to a deeper understanding of how telomere dysfunction contributes to lung disease and potentially inform rational therapies.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program

Dr. Bon’s academic and research interests focus on the investigation of musculoskeletal comorbidities in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Dr. Bon’s research has concentrated on the role that inflammation and autoimmunity play in COPD-related bone loss. She has shown that radiographic emphysema independently predicts low bone mineral density in smokers and has identified novel autoimmune responses in smokers that are linked to emphysema-related bone loss.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Director, Pittsburgh Heart, Lung, Blood, and Vascular Medicine Institute
Director, Center for Pulmonary Vascular Biology and Medicine
Associate Program Director, Fellowship Research, Cardiovascular Fellowship Training Program

Dr. Chan studies the molecular mechanisms of pulmonary vascular disease and pulmonary hypertension (PH), an example of an enigmatic disease where reductionistic studies have primarily focused on end-stage molecular effectors. To capitalize on the emerging discipline of “network medicine,” research in the Chan laboratory utilizes a combination of network-based bioinformatics with unique experimental reagents derived from genetically altered rodent and human subjects to accelerate systems-wide discovery in PH. In doing so, Dr. Chan’s published work was the first to identify the systems-level functions of microRNAs (miRNAs), which are small, non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression, as a root cause of PH. Dr. Chan also has expertise in the study of extracellular microRNAs and their delivery to recipient tissue for modulation of gene expression. Dr. Chan has a strong track record for training post-doctoral fellows in cardiovascular research, with a number of his trainees going on to establish independent academic research careers as principal investigators.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Dr. Eickelberg’s research focus centers on deciphering the mechanisms of tissue fibrosis, particularly in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) after transplantation. His team seeks to investigate disease pathobiology, identify biomarkers to stratify patient subgroups, and develop novel treatment options for patients with the above-mentioned diseases. His research mechanistically interrogates profibrotic signaling pathways that control the dynamics of extracellular matrix (ECM) composition during tissue injury, repair, and fibrosis. Dr. Eickelberg has contributed significantly to provide the entire proteome during lung injury, repair, fibrosis, and regeneration, in animal models as well as human disease. He has extensive expertise in interpreting large datasets of tissue samples, as well as using complex phenotypic in vitro models that recapitulate aspects of human disease.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
G. Nicholas Beckwith III and Dorothy B. Beckwith Chair in Translational Medicine
Director, Aging Institute

Dr. Finkel’s lab is interested in the intersection of metabolism, mitochondrial function and aging. Current projects include the link between impaired autophagy and vascular aging, the molecular basis that regulates mitochondrial calcium entry, the role of fatty acid oxidation in regulating cell fate and the molecular control on mitochondrial turnover.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Professor of Medicine, Clinical and Translational Science
Medical Director, Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease

Dr. Gibson’s research focuses on clinical pathogenesis interstitial lung diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Sarcoidosis, autoimmune lung disease, and occupational lung disease. Dr. Gibson conducts studies that include early and late phase clinical trials of novel therapeutics in interstitial lung disease, the discovery of biomarkers of disease activity and progression, and clinical translational studies of disease pathogenesis. He has published a number of translational studies to identify unique biomarkers of disease activity in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other interstitial lung diseases, studies of novel interventions in acute IPF exacerbations, as well as studies of gene expression profiling in IPF lungs. He has discovered a number of peripheral blood biomarkers that have been useful predicting disease progression in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He has participated in multinational Studies of the genetics of IPF and Sarcoidosis.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Dr. Königshoff’s research focuses on deciphering mechanisms involved in lung repair and regeneration, with the aim to identify novel therapeutic targets relevant for age-related chronic lung diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Her translational research program focuses on the comprehensive characterization of primary lung epithelial (stem) cells from experimental models and human tissue samples from patients with chronic lung disease. She aims to identify and investigate target signaling pathways that impact cellular mechanisms. She identified the developmental WNT signaling pathway as a potent contributor to impaired lung repair and epithelial cell reprogramming, which is amenable to therapy and have further characterized features of epithelial cell reprogramming, such as cellular senescence. Dr. Königshoff further pioneered and applied patient-derived 3D Lung Tissue Cultures that allow to further validate and test potential novel drugs in an individualized fashion.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology

The Magnani Lab focuses on social determinants of health and cardiovascular disease and outcomes. There is tremendous evidence that social factors significantly influence health care access and outcomes. Identifying social determinants of health can provide avenues for community-based interventions and insight regarding the etiologies for disparities. To this end, our lab’s principal research agenda consists in (1) identification of the intersection of social determinants (household income and composition; educational attainment; health literacy) with health-related risk factors and outcomes; and (2) development of strategic interventions to reduce or address cardiovascular risk in disadvantaged individuals. We have two on-going clinical trials which provide patient-centered interventions to patients with chronic cardiovascular disease, specifically atrial fibrillation. Our projects enroll rural and metropolitan individuals who face the multiple disadvantages of geographic isolation and limited social resources. Our team has further continued extensive health services research using administrative data. Dr. Magnani maintains active involvement in the American Heart Association (AHA), having chaired the writing group on health literacy and cardiovascular disease and serving as member of the EPI Statistics Committee and the Social Determinants Committee.

Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Professor of Immunology and Clinical and Translational Research
Director, Center for Medicine and the Microbiome
Director, HIV Lung Research Center
UPMC Chair in Translational Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Dr. Morris has been PI of 6 NHLBI R01s to investigate lung disease in HIV and the role of pulmonary infections, such as Pneumocystis colonization in HIV-associated COPD, and was a Primary Investigator in the NHLBI-sponsored, “Lung HIV,” a consortium of 8 clinical centers investigating HIV-associated pulmonary disease. Additionally, Dr. Morris was co-PI on a U01 investigating the lung microbiome in the normal host and in HIV-associated COPD, and she participated as one of 6 sites in the Lung HIV Microbiome Program. Key scientific discoveries include the prevalence of diffusing capacity abnormalities in HIV, the role of colonizing infections in lung dysfunction, determining the associations of COPD and pulmonary hypertension in HIV, phenotyping lung disease in HIV, and linking lung function abnormalities to systemic and lung inflammation. Multiple NIH grants and training opportunities have resulted from these cohorts including two K23s, a translational program project grant, an NRSA, and an R34. She holds a K24 mentoring grant, is Vice Chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine, serves as training faculty on several T32s, and runs a grant writing course. She also supervises pulmonary function testing in the MACS and WIHS cohorts.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Section Director, Benign Hematology

Dr. Novelli’s research has focused on the mechanisms underlying vascular dysfunction in SCD via three main projects: 1) Dr. Novelli has explored the role of the protein thrombospondin-1 in SCD. He has found that elevated plasma levels of TSP1 in several large cohorts of patients with SCD are associated with vaso-occlusive complications and identify a subset of patients who display hemostatic activation and have a more severe phenotype. In translational studies presented as podium talk at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting he also found TSP1 to cause pulmonary hypertension in transgenic mice by binding to its receptor CD47. 2) Another line of research has focused on the characterization of arterial stiffness as a mechanism of vascular dysfunction in SCD. Dr. Novelli has discovered a new link between hemolysis and arterial stiffness by showing that hemolysis is independently associated with arterial stiffness measured by pulse pressure in a large cohort of SCD patients. This discovery is of high clinical relevance as it suggests that elevated hemolysis rates encountered in a subset of SCD patients may lead to an increased risk of vascular complications; 3) Most recently, Dr. Novelli has turned his attention onto the cerebral vasculature in SCD in an effort to elucidate SCD-related cognitive impairment. He has discovered a neuroimaging marker of small vessel disease associated with cognitive function in SCD.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology
Associate Professor of Human Genetics
Dean, School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, University of Ghana

Classically trained as a hematology and molecular genetics scientist in the National Health System in England, Dr. Ofori-Acquah described the RFLP haplotype of the sickle chromosome among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in England for the first time and determined the functional relevance of polymorphism of a short tandem repeat in the beta-globin locus control region on HbF level in SCD. His expertise in functional genomics was central to defining the role of a polymorphic cyclic AMP response element in the gamma globin gene in induction of HbF3. Currently, Dr. Ofori-Acquah’s research ranges from basic and translational studies in animal models to large-scale genomics studies of SCD patients in the H3Afrcia consortium. His studies on Nrf2 indicate that this transcription factor plays a dominant role in slowing down progression of SCD with aging. Thus, Nrf2 is an attractive therapeutic target for lessening the severity of SCD chronically. The Ofori-Acquah lab has also recently found that by promoting “low-grade” disease phenotype, Nrf2 activation protects transgenic SCD mice from developing acute lung injury during episodes of hemolytic crisis.

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology

Since medical school, Dr. Oluwole has been actively involved in sickle cell disease (SCD) research with a focus on cognitive outcomes of patients affected by the disease. She previously conducted an independent study that assessed cognitive impairment in children with SCD in Nigeria for which she served as a PI. She also spent a month in Nigeria performing WISC IV cognitive assessments on children with SCD as well as a control group without the disease. The goal of the research was to elucidate the prevalence and correlates of CI in Nigeria. The experience laid a foundation for future longitudinal or interventional studies to ameliorate the disease burden of SCD in sub-Saharan Africa. It also furthered interest in the disease process of SCD especially in a neurological aspect of the disease course. Dr. Oluwole’s most recent project deals with exploring the impact of hydroxyurea on cognitive functioning of children with SCD in Ghana. During her fellowship, she initiated a project that deals with better understanding the association between neurocognitive function and anemia as well as underlying functional abnormalities with the use of fMRI.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Director, Center for Sleep and Cardiovascular Outcomes Research
Medical Director, UPMC Sleep Laboratory

Dr. Patel is a physician scientist focused on sleep epidemiology, particularly on the impact of sleep apnea on cardio-metabolic outcomes. As the Director of the new Center for Sleep and Cardiovascular Outcomes Research at the University of Pittsburgh, he is building a program that aims to understand the ability to improve health outcomes through sleep-focused interventions. Among his interests are using electronic health records to study relationships between obstructive sleep apnea and the development of cardiovascular diseases, studying the impact of obstructive sleep apnea treatment on patients with diabetes, and improving care delivery models for sleep care. Dr. Patel is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists, having mentored trainees at all levels from high school students to junior faculty in his laboratory, as well as having chaired an annual 2.5-day program on mentoring young investigators in sleep medicine sponsored jointly by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology

The major focus of the Razani laboratory is dissecting the roles of autophagy and lysosomes in metabolic disorders (including atherosclerosis, diabetes, and obesity). He has shown that macrophages of the atherosclerotic plaque develop features of autophagy-lysosomal deficiency, which in turn is proatherogenic through a variety of mechanisms. This work has led to the investigation of whether methods of inducing autophagy and lysosomal function can be beneficial. His recent data indicate that macrophage autophagy-lysosomal biogenesis is protective not only in atherosclerosis but also in obesity and diabetes.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases

Dr. Rinaldo’s basic research laboratory focuses on studies of innate and adaptive immunity in the immunopathogenesis of HIV and human herpesvirus 8 (KSHV) infections linked to the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). Dr. Rinaldo also directs an Immunology Specialty Laboratory in the ACTG focused on cell immunity, regulation and immune activation in the ACTG HIV Reservoirs, and Viral Eradication Transformative Science Group. His HIV research centers on the dynamics of dendritic cell-T cell interactions leading to anti-HIV immune reactivity as a model for immunotherapy of antiretroviral drug treated HIV-1 infected persons, with the ultimate goal of eradicating their HIV reservoir. Dr. Rinaldo’s clinical specialty is diagnostic virology, with emphasis on molecular methods for rapid detection of herpesvirus and influenza virus infections. He has primary responsibility for diagnostic molecular virology in the UPMC Clinical Microbiology Laboratory that serves over 30 regional hospitals and associated clinical sites and has advised numerous postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in these areas of research.

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Dr. Robinson’s research interests include pulmonary host defense, immunology of acute respiratory infections, and immunology of chronic respiratory infections. Her current projects examine influenza and bacterial super-infection.

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Dr. Suber studies host defense mechanisms in intrapulmonary bacterial infections that lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome. She has also studied how regulation of protein stability by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway modulates lung epithelial responses during inflammation.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Director, Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics
Vice Chair for Pre-Clinical Research, Department of Medicine

Dr. Villanueva’s research focuses on the development of medical diagnostic and therapeutic strategies based on ultrasound and ultrasound contrast agents (gas-filled microspheres, or microbubbles). Her work has consistently bridged fundamental imaging sciences with translational biomedical research. As an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, she has been a leader in the development of microbubbles for the assessment of myocardial perfusion and ultrasound molecular imaging with targeted microbubbles for the detection of inflammatory and angiogenic endothelial markers in pre-clinical models of heart disease. The Villanueva lab has pioneered the development and application of microbubbles as molecular probes and acoustic detection strategies for optimizing imaging sensitivity. They have applied fundamental principles of ultrasound and the physics of microbubble acoustic behaviors to develop novel targeted molecular therapeutics, whereby nucleic acid loaded microbubbles (siRNA, miRNA, plasmid), in the presence of precisely tuned ultrasound, selectively enhance membrane permeability and deliver payloads to the target site. These studies are conducted at the Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics, a translational multidisciplinary research facility that epitomizes the reciprocal relationship between imaging sciences and biomedical translational research.

As the founding Director of the Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics and Director of Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging for the Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC, Dr. Villanueva has continuous exposure to a pool of outstanding trainees and is deeply committed to mentoring them as future clinical and basic translational scientists. She has mentored MD and PhD post-docs (AHA fellowships, NRSA, international grants); medical students (Clinical Science and Physician Scientist Training Programs at the University of Pittsburgh; Howard Hughes Medical Institute); undergraduates (Independent Study); and high school students (summer research) throughout her 23-year career. Additionally, she has served or actively serves on 9 PhD committees and is a Training Faculty member on 4 T32s at the University of Pittsburgh, including serving as program director for a cardiology imaging T32.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology

John F. Alcorn studied the role of type 17 immunity in viral and bacterial pneumonia. His studies have focused on influenza A infection and suppression of type 17 immunity against secondary staph ylococcal infection. He studied the mechanisms of asthma and allergic airway disease with an emphasis on the role of type 17 cellular immunology. His studies suggested that disease induced by Th17 cells is steroid resistant and may represent a model for steroid-insensitive asthma.

Niels K. Jerne Professor of Pediatrics
Professor of Internal Medicine, Epidemiology, and Human Genetics
Division Chief, Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy, and Immunology
Director, Pediatric Asthma Center, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Juan C. Celedón’s research focused on identifying genetic and epigenetic factors and early-life environmental exposures that influence the pathogenesis of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in general and among ethnic minorities in particular.

Clinical Director, Pediatric Hematology, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Director, Comprehensive Pediatric Sickle Cell Program
Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/ Oncology

Dr. Cheryl Hillery is an NIH-funded physician-scientist who treats patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and has been involved with basic and translational research programs focused on the vascular and organ pathologies in human and mouse models of SCD as well as novel mechanisms of pain. Hillery’s team studies are trying to discern the exact role of the clotting and inflammatory pathways and to determine whether agents that thin the blood or decrease inflammation may help patients who suffer from SCD. Additionally, Dr. Hillery and her collaborator, Cheryl Stucky, study the precise nerve cells and pathways that sense the pain and carry the message to the brain so that they can develop new methods to treat SCD more safely and effectively. In ongoing studies, Dr. Hillery is also collaborating with Kirkwood Pritchard in exploring the role of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a nuclear protein that is important for maintaining DNA structure and function.

Mellon Scholar, Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Director of Research in Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics

The research laboratory that Bernhard Kühn directs has three interconnected goals: to understand the mechanisms of growth and regeneration in the heart; to provide mechanistic explanations for the huge differences in regenerative activity that exist in biology; and, drawing on the answers to these two fundamental questions, to conduct translational research for the diagnosis and treatment of heart muscle diseases. Prior to Kühn’s work, it was commonly thought that heart muscle cells, cardiomyocytes, are in irreversible proliferative arrest after birth and that myocardial regeneration cannot be increased in mammals. Physicians and scientists were skeptical that it would be possible to stimulate cardiomyocyte proliferation after birth, let alone that this mechanism would regenerate myocardium. Kühn is credited with demonstrating that the postnatal mammalian heart has cardiomyocytes that can be stimulated to divide and that this process gives rise to myocardial regeneration. Kühn has developed an approach of using extracellular factors to stimulate cardiomyocyte proliferation. A peptide of periostin, a component of the extracellular matrix, stimulates cardiomyocyte proliferation and myocardial regeneration in a rat model of myocardial infarction. This work was published in Nature Medicine in 2007. Kühn followed up this seminal study with large-animal experiments published in 2012.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology

The focus of Dr. Nolfi-Donegan’s work is to investigate novel mechanisms of synergy between hemolysis and inflammatory signaling in potentiating thrombosis. She uses measures of redox status, platelet bioenergetics, and platelet activation to determine whether alterations in platelet signaling pathways lead to platelet activation and thrombus formation. The ultimate goal of Dr. Nolfi-Donegan’s work is to identify novel targets for potential pharmaceutical intervention to prevent or decrease unwanted thrombosis in hemolytic and inflammatory disease.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases

Dr. Lin has 14 years of research experience in the immunology and pathogenesis of M. tuberculosis infection and has been directly involved in the development and use of the non-human primate model to better understand human M. tuberculosis infection. Dr. Lin’s work includes examining the early events during acute M. tuberculosis infection from both the host and pathogen standpoint, host immune specific factors that control and maintain latent infection, SIV-TB co-infection, drug treatments against TB, vaccine trials and immune control and biomarkers of reactivation. She has been involved in teaching and training undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral candidates, medical students, resident and fellows both at the bench, in the classroom and at the bedside. As the Program Director for the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship program at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for 4 years, Dr. Lin is actively involved in mentoring pediatric fellows.

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology

Dr. Saraf’s clinical and research interests are in congenital heart disease (CHD). Patients with CHD are the fastest growing population of adults with heart disease. Over the past few decades, new surgical interventions have dramatically increased the life expectancy of children with CHD. However, adults with CHD have a higher burden of heart-rhythm abnormalities and heart failure. These long-term consequences are even more evident in patients with complex congenital heart disease such as patients with single ventricle physiology or Fontan circulation. Dr. Saraf’s previous research has shown that patients with Fontan circulation have chronically elevated proinflammatory cytokines that contributes to their late-term consequences. In addition to inflammation, genetic mutations drive CHD pathology, and it is becoming evident that these mutations are complex and involve multiple environmental factors. The impact of these mutations in a post-developmental heart in the presence of inflammation is unknown. Her research investigates the interaction between inflammation and genetic mutations associated with CHD in causing arrhythmias and heart failure. The Saraf laboratory uses induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in combination with CRISPR/Cas9 technology, to generate cell lines with unique complex mutations in NOTCH1, a receptor protein implicated in numerous CHD. Using patient derived iPSCs with NOTCH1 mutations in combination with genetically engineered iPSCs, she is interested in identifying external factors such as inflammatory cytokines that can contribute to the morbidity and mortality of CHD patients.

Henry L. Hillman Endowed Chair in Pediatric Immunology
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Professor of Pediatrics
Faculty Member, Graduate Programs in Molecular Virology and Microbiology and Immunology
Affiliate, Center for Vaccine Research

Dr. Williams is an international authority on the epidemiology, immunity, and pathogenesis of respiratory viruses. The focus of his laboratory’s research is the pathogenesis and immunity of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and other respiratory viruses. The work in Dr. Williams’ laboratory has explored multiple aspects of HMPV, including epidemiology of HMPV. His laboratory discovered that RGD-binding integrins are receptors for cellular entry of HMPV via endocytosis and identified the HMPV fusion protein as the sole target of protective antibodies. Williams’ work has led to vaccine candidates and antibodies. In recent years, his laboratory found that HMPV and other acute respiratory viral infections cause impairment of lung CD8+ T cells via PD-1 signaling, a pathway that had previously been associated with chronic infections and cancer.