Pulmonary & Critical Care Division Newsletter

September 2026

Recognizing excellence across our division

Fellowship

Fellows Leading IRB-Approved Research

Eight of our PCCM fellows—six from the Class of 2027 and two from the Class of 2028—are currently serving as the primary fellow investigator on at least one IRB-approved research project. Their work spans COPD, asthma, pulmonary vascular disease, transplantation, interstitial lung disease, ECMO, and tobacco cessation.


Class of 2027

Dr. Zahedi is studying the correlation between tricuspid annular planar systolic excursion (TAPSE) measurements obtained in the subxiphoid and apical four-chamber views.
Dr. Hidalgo Hernandez has approved grant funding to investigate the association between inhaler technique and COPD exacerbations.
Dr. Cherabuddi is evaluating the relationship between vertebral fractures and baseline bone mineral density in lung, heart, and liver transplant recipients. She is also hard at work revising a provisionally accepted manuscript examining race-neutral pulmonary function testing in BLVR candidates.
Dr. Shadid is studying short-term oxygen needs following hospitalization for COPD exacerbation and is also a primary fellow investigator on a project evaluating outcomes of a cardiovascular medicine-inclusive ECMO service.
Dr. Khalifeh is leading a project examining hypersensitivity pneumonitis and antifibrotic therapy.
Dr. Rani has analyzed data from more than 16,000 patients to study referral patterns to a smoking cessation program across three specialty and internal medicine outpatient clinics.


Class of 2028

Dr. Parsons is already serving as the primary fellow investigator on several IRB-approved projects, including bronchiolitis obliterans following chronic graft-versus-host disease, noninfectious pulmonary complications of common variable immunodeficiency, a cardiovascular medicine-inclusive ECMO service, and long-term allograft function in lung transplant recipients requiring life-sustaining therapies in the ICU.
Dr. Smith was recently awarded IRB approval for a large observational study investigating asthma health literacy in young adults and its relationship to subsequent healthcare utilization and treatment adherence.



Congratulations to our fellows for reaching this important milestone, and thank you to the faculty mentors who continue to support their work.

Expanding Asthma Care Through Virtual Education

A New Addition to Our Asthma Program



Under the leadership of Dr. Dania Shakaroun, our asthma program continues to expand its reach and resources for patients across the Detroit area.

One of the latest additions is a Virtual Asthma Education Program, developed in collaboration with the Allergy Department to provide structured, individualized education for both pediatric and adult patients with asthma.

The program includes four virtual visits over six months with an Allergy Nurse Practitioner and focuses on helping patients better understand their disease, recognize triggers, improve inhaler technique, monitor peak flow, and connect symptoms with changes in lung function.

The program also incorporates the PRIDE framework to support long-term self-management: Problem identification, Researching routines, Identifying goals, Developing a plan, and Exploring rewards for progress.



How to Refer

This is another example of the ongoing work to build a more comprehensive and accessible asthma program for our patients.

Adults and children with mild, moderate, or severe asthma are eligible. The program may be particularly useful for patients with recurrent exacerbations, limited understanding of their asthma, or challenges with treatment adherence.

If you have a patient who may benefit, please send an In Basket message or CC the patient's chart to Jaclyn Michniak, NP.

Structured, multi-session asthma self-management interventions have been shown to reduce asthma exacerbations, including in older adults.


Research

Editorial Leadership Across Pulmonary Medicine


Genva Tatem

Serves as Editor-in-Chief of ATS Scholar, an official peer-reviewed journal of the American Thoracic Society.

Jeff Jennings

In addition to serving as Editor-in-Chief of PCCM Reports, was invited to serve as Guest Editor for a special issue focused on the clinical progress of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Daniel R. Ouellette

Serves as an active Editorial Board Member for the dedicated Pulmonology section of Medicina.

Rana Awdish

Continues to have a major presence in medical publishing. In addition to her narrative nonfiction, medical essays, and editorials featured in the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and JAMA, she serves as a primary Editorial Board Member and Section Editor for Humanities (Exhalations) for CHEST, as well as a Guest Editor for The International Journal of Whole Person Care.

Dr. Simoff

Serves as an Associate Editor on the editorial board of PLEURA.

Transplant

New Tool for Monitoring Lung Transplant Rejection

The Lung Transplant team is looking forward to incorporating donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) into post-transplant monitoring. This blood-based test detects circulating donor DNA and may help identify allograft injury and possible rejection without relying solely on invasive testing. With its strong negative predictive value, dd-cfDNA has the potential to help clinicians rule out significant rejection and better target when additional evaluation is needed. The team anticipates this will become another useful tool in the ongoing care of our lung transplant recipients.

PH

Henry Ford Leads First-of-Its-Kind Pulmonary Artery Denervation Trial

The Henry Ford Pulmonary Hypertension team, in collaboration with Cardiology, has launched the first randomized, double-blind clinical trial in the world evaluating pulmonary artery denervation for patients with Group 2 pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease. The first two patients were enrolled and underwent their procedures on August 21, 2026.

The trial builds on recently published data showing that pulmonary artery denervation, when added to guideline-directed medical therapy, reduced clinical worsening events in patients with pulmonary hypertension related to left heart disease and heart failure.

Dr. Raymond-Forde is serving as a study investigator as Henry Ford helps lead the evaluation of this emerging interventional approach for Group 2 pulmonary hypertension.

Alumni Updates

PCCM 2022


Gorav Sharmaa, a graduate of our PCCM fellowship program was named Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program Director. He remains at the University of Chicago after completing additional fellowship training in Sleep Medicine. After serving as Associate Program Director for the Sleep Medicine Fellowship, he will become Program Director beginning this August.

Dr. Sharma is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and serves as Co-Director of the Advanced Respiratory Care (ARC) Program at UChicago Sleep.


Congratulations to Gorav on his new leadership role.

We’d like to hear from more of our alumni. If you have a new leadership role, publication, award, research accomplishment, program initiative, or other professional update, please send it our way so we can feature it in a future newsletter.

Before You Go…

Call for Submissions: PCCM Reports


PCCM Reports is a new peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to pulmonary and critical care medicine and is now accepting submissions.

If you have a completed manuscript—or a project that has been presented but never published—consider submitting your work. Every submission undergoes peer review, providing fellows and faculty an opportunity to disseminate their scholarly work.

Learn more and submit your manuscript at:
pccmreports.org

Submissions may include:
• Original Research
• Case Reports
• Review Articles
• Quality Improvement Projects
• Clinical Images
• Medical Education Scholarship