Meet the Faculty

Executive Committee Member, CHEST Council of Global Governor
University Professor of Respiratory Disease
Department of Medicine and Health Sciences 'V Tiberio' University of Molise, Italy
Department of Medicine 'Federico II' University of Naples
Chief Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Section
Clinic Center S.p.A. Private Hospital - Naples - Italy

Vice Chair for Education, Department of Medicine
Richard C. Powell Scholar in Medical Education
Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis, IN

Jack Buckley, MD, MPH is a graduate of Kalamazoo College and Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed his Internal Medicine residency, and fellowships in Pulmonary, Critical Care Medicine and Health Service Research at Indiana University in 1997. After eleven years as a Senior Staff physician at Henry Ford Hospital, he moved back to Indiana University in 2008. He has been involved in medical education throughout his career, including fellowship program director at two institutions and has been active in CHEST, currently serving on the Board of Regents. At Indiana University, he has served as the Vice Chair for Quality and Patient Safety and is now Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine.

He has been an active member of CHEST, providing lectures at the annual Pulmonary Board Review and serving on the Board of Regents.

Richard Casaburi, MD, PhD, FCCP
Dr. Casaburi is Professor of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine. He occupies the Grancell/Burns Chair in the Rehabilitative Sciences at the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California. He established the Rehabilitation Clinical Trials Center in 1999, a facility dedicated to COPD research. He has published more than 330 papers and 290 abstracts on exercise physiology, pulmonary rehabilitation, and COPD therapeutics. Dr. Casaburi is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. He serves as president of the Pulmonary Education and Research Foundation, a non-profit corporation dedicated to advancing the scientific basis and practice of pulmonary rehabilitation and is a member of the Board of Directors of the COPD Foundation.

Bartolome Celli, MD, FCCP
Professor Celli graduated from Universidad Central de Venezuela, completed his training in Internal Medicine, and was Chief Medical Resident, at the Boston City Hospital. He then trained in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. Currently, he is Professor of Medicine at Tufts and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Celli has published over 400 peer reviewed scientific papers, 425 abstracts and edited several books. He has been the Chairman of the Committee that established the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of COPD. In addition, he is in the Scientific Committee of the Global Obstructive Lung Disease initiative and currently serves in the Board of Directors of GOLD. Although caring for patients provides unique pleasure, Dr. Celli’s greatest achievement is to have personally helped mentor many young careers in medicine.

Head Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Immunology, North Shore University Health System in Evanston Illinois and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Dr. Freedman is board certified in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. He is currently on the Board of Regents for the American College of Chest Physicians and has served in many leadership and educational roles for CHEST over the years. He is published in peer-review journals and textbooks and has lectured nationally and internationally in the fields of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. He has been awarded a number of accolades including the ACCP Distinguished CHEST Educator Award in 2017-2019 and the Excellence in Education Award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

William F. Kelly, MD, FCCP
Co-Chair
CHEST Congress Italy 2020

Dr. Kelly is Professor of Medicine and certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Uniformed Services University. He is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and a Colonel in the United States Army Medical Corps. He has held many national leadership positions, including Chair of Education for CHEST. He has over 50 peer-reviewed published manuscripts, chapters, or abstracts, more than 150 presentations including national and international meetings and workshops, and over 30 teaching and research awards. Dr. Kelly's original live and computer-based educational games have reached over 15,000 physicians in North America, Spain, India and China.

Sandhya Khurana, MD, FCCP
Dr. Khurana is an adult pulmonary and critical care physician with a specialized focus in management of severe difficult to treat asthma. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester and Director of the Mary Parkes Center for Asthma, Allergy & Pulmonary Care. Dr. Khurana's clinical and research interests include comprehensive multidisciplinary management of severe asthma. She has expertise in application of novel therapies for severe asthma including new monoclonal antibodies and bronchial thermoplasty. She is the site principal investigator in multicenter clinical trials evaluating new treatments in asthma. She is the past Chair of Airways Disorders NetWork of the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr. Khurana has co-authored several peer-reviewed papers including recent ERS/ATS severe asthma guidelines. She is a co-editor of the book Difficult to Treat Asthma: Clinical Essentials.

Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Training Program
Staff Physician, South Texas Veterans Health Care System
University of Texas Health Science Center – San Antonio
San Antonio, TX

Stephanie M. Levine MD, FCCP is a Professor of Medicine with tenure in the Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio Texas. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Levine received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and her medical degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine where she was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. She completed her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine, and Fellowship in Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine at the New York University- Manhattan Veterans Administration- Bellevue Hospital Program in New York City.

Dr. Levine is the Program Director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She is the Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at the University Hospital. She also is a staff physician at the Audie Murphy Veteran Administration Hospital. Dr. Levine has authored or co-authored over 270 manuscripts, chapters, reviews, editorials, and abstracts, primarily in her major field of interest, lung transplantation. Her other areas of interest include: women’s issues in pulmonary and critical care medicine and eosinophilic lung disorders.

Dr. Levine is a Fellow and active member of CHEST. Her activities in CHEST have included: Co-chair of the 2005 ACCP Scientific Program Committee for the Annual Meeting, a member of the Scientific Program Committee from 2003-2012, Chair of the Education Committee, Chair of NetWorks, Chair of the Steering Committee of the Lung Transplant NetWork, Director of the CHEST Pulmonary Board Review Course, Editor of Critical Care SEEK, Editor of Pulmonary SEEK, and a member of the CHEST Editorial Board. She is an active faculty participant in the Board Review Course and the Annual Meeting. She was President and Chair of the CHEST Foundation from 2010-2014, and is currently on the Board of Regents of CHEST.

Professor of Medicine
Division of Respirology, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Royal University Hospital
Associate Vice-President Research
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK, Canada

Dr. Marciniuk is recognized internationally as an expert and leader in clinical exercise physiology, COPD, and pulmonary rehabilitation with more than 550 invited presentations and 200 peer-reviewed publications, chapters and reviews. Dr. Marciniuk is a past-President of CHEST (2012-2013) and the Canadian Thoracic Society (2006-2007), and served as a founding Steering Committee member of Canada’s National Lung Health Framework (2007-2011), and member and Chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Respirology Examination Board (1999-2007). Dr. Marciniuk was the lead author of three recent COPD clinical practice guidelines published by the CTS, a panel member of international clinical practice guidelines in COPD (ACP/ACCP/ATS/ERS), cardiopulmonary exercise testing (ATS/ACCP) and pulmonary rehabilitation (ATS/ERS), and was a co-author of the recently published joint CTS/CHEST clinical practice guideline on preventing acute exacerbations of COPD.
Dr. Marciniuk is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and has been bestowed with the Distinguished Scientist Honor Lecture (2011) and the Thomas L. Petty Master FCCP Memorial Honor Lecture (2015) by the American College of Chest Physicians, the Founder’s Award (2013) by the Canadian Lung Association, the Christie Memorial Lecture and Award (2016) by the Canadian Thoracic Society, and the Distinguished Researcher Award (2013) by the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan.

Peter Mazzone is the Director of the Lung Cancer Program and Lung Cancer Screening Program for the Respiratory Institute of the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Mazzone received his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario and his Masters in Public Health from Cleveland State.
Dr. Mazzone’s research has focused on many aspects of the Pulmonologists’ role in the field of lung cancer, including prevention, screening, nodule management, diagnosis, staging, and pre-operative evaluation. He has a particular interest in the discovery and validation of non-invasive molecular biomarkers.
Dr. Mazzone has led projects resulting in policy statements related to the “Components Necessary for High-Quality Lung Cancer Screening”, “Quality Indicators for the Evaluation of Patients With Lung Cancer”, and “Evaluating Molecular Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Lung Cancer”. He has participated in the development of policy statements related to smoking cessation in lung cancer screening, co-morbidities and lung cancer screening, implementation of lung cancer screening, and the identification of lung nodule research priorities. He led a recent update of guidelines for lung cancer screening for the American College of Chest Physicians, and has participated in the development of lung nodule management guidelines. He has had leadership or advisory roles in organizations with an interest in lung cancer, including the ACCP, ATS, ALA, and ACS. He represented the ACCP and ATS in lung cancer screening advocacy efforts presented to CMS. He served as chair of the program committee for the ACCP’s Chest 2017 meeting, and has been Chair of the Thoracic Oncology NetWork for Chest. He has previously served the Thoracic Oncology Assembly of the American Thoracic Society as a member of the Nominating Committee and Planning Committee, which he chaired from 2015-2017. He has been selected to be the next Editor-in-Chief of the journal CHEST.

Lisa K. Moores, MD, FCCP, MACP, FRCP
Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Student Affairs
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Bethesda, MD

Dr. Moores is the Associate Dean for Assessment and Professional Development and Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. She received her medical degree from the Uniformed Services University in 1989 and then completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. Upon graduation from her fellowship, she was awarded the Outstanding Graduating Fellow Award and the Baily K. Ashford Award for Outstanding Clinical Research.

Dr. Moores recently retired after a 30 years of active service in the United States Army Medical Corps. Throughout her career, she has been awarded several teaching awards, including the Walter Reed Department of Medicine Outstanding Teacher, The Army Internal Medicine Master Teacher Award, the William P. Clements Award for Outstanding Military Educator, the American College of Chest Physicians Edward C. Rosenow Master Teacher Honor Lecture, the American College of Physicians Jane F. Desforges Distinguished Teacher Award, and the 2018 CHEST Master Clinician Educator Award.

Dr. Moores has more than 100 invited presentations and more than 50 published journal articles and book chapters, which reflect her interests in venous thromboembolism, medical education, and adult learning.

Dr. Narasimhan works for Northwell Health as the Regional Director of Critical Care Services and is an attending in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. She is the Medical Director of the Northwell Acute Lung Injury Center/VV ECMO program and ICU Director of the Medical ICU at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. She is a Professor of Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. She is teaching point of care ultrasound nationally for 15 years and is a testamur of the American Board of Echocardiography. Her research interests include point of care ultrasound in the critically ill, ECMO for acute lung injury and outcomes research in the ICU. She is on the education committee and is the Vice-Chair of the Live Learning subcommittee for CHEST. She has been the Chair or Co-Chair for over 15 Chest national and international courses.

Dr. Murgu is an Associate Professor of Medicine and co-Director of Bronchoscopy at the University of Chicago Medicine in the United States of America, where he is also the Program Director of the Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship.

His clinical interests include interventional pulmonology and procedure-related training. His specific expertise is in minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopic and pleural procedures for the management of lung cancer and central airway disorders. This interest is also seen in his research work, where he published extensively on the role of bronchoscopy for molecular testing, diagnosis of lung nodules, and therapeutic bronchoscopy for central airway disorders. He authored a best-seller textbook on Bronchoscopy and he is actively involved in bronchoscopy, pleural procedures, central airway disorders and lung cancer education projects throughout the world.

Dr. Murgu is the Vice- Chair of Education Committee for the American College of Chest Physicians, the Secretary Treasurer of the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, a member of the organizing committees for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer programs, and an Editor for the World Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology Newsletter. He devotes significant time to training bronchoscopists of all nations in advanced diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

GIROLAMO PELAIA
CHEST Global Governor for Italy

Girolamo Pelaia works at “Magna Graecia” University of Catanzaro, Italy, where he is Full Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, Director of the Postdoctoral Specialization School of Respiratory Diseases, and Head of the Respiratory Disease Unit.
He was born on 15 August 1960 in Catanzaro, Italy. In 1985 he received a degree in Medicine and Surgery, with distinction (“summa cum laude”), from the University of Reggio Calabria, Italy, and in 1989 he graduated with distinction (“summa cum laude”) as a Specialist in Respiratory Diseases at the University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy. He subsequently worked from 1990 to 1992 as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C., USA.
Professor Pelaia’s clinical and research activities primarily deal with the pathophysiology and treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In particular, he is interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting bronchodilators, and anti-asthma biologic drugs. He has authored or co-authored over 100 original articles and reviews published in international peer-reviewed journals, as well as several book chapters.

Dr. Otis B. Rickman is a Board Certified, Interventional Pulmonologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology ('94) and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine ('98) from Oklahoma State University. Internal medicine residency and pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship were both completed at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Immediately after fellowship training in 2004, he joined the faculty at Mayo Clinic as a member of the advanced bronchoscopy and interventional pulmonology group. Dr. Rickman moved to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN in late summer of 2009 where he founded the Interventional Pulmonology section. He currently serves as the Founding Director of Interventional Pulmonology, Bronchoscopy and Lung Nodule Clinic. He is the Co-Director of the Lung Screening Program and Associate Professor of Medicine and Thoracic Surgery at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He has been recognized by the American College of Chest Physicians as a Distinguished CHEST Educator and is actively involved in procedural education at the local, national, and international level. His clinical and translational research interests focus on medical devices, early diagnosis, and prevention of lung cancer. His clinical work is focused on lung nodules, lung cancer, pleural diseases and interventional pulmonology.

Hillenbrand Professor of Thoracic Oncology
Vice Chair of Medicine for faculty development
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC

Dr. Silvestri is the Hillenbrand Professor of thoracic oncology and Vice-Chair of Medicine for Faculty development at the Medical University of South Carolina. He completed his fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care at Dartmouth. He has an advanced degree in the evaluative clinical sciences, also from Dartmouth. He is a lung cancer and interventional pulmonologist with an interest in screening, nodule evaluation and management, staging of lung cancer, and device technology assessment. Dr. Silvestri is a writer and editor of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) lung cancer guidelines. He is a past president of the American Association of Bronchology and interventional pulmonology. Dr. Silvestri has authored more than 200 scientific articles, book chapters and editorials. He currently serves on the editorial board of Chest. Dr. Silvestri is currently the 2017 President of the American College of Chest Physicians.