UAB MEDICINE PULMONARY SERVICES
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NEW PHYSICIANS
Gretchen Winter, MD
Assistant Professor
Dr. Winter earned her
medical degree from Baylor
College of Medicine in 2012,
completed residency training
at Indiana University in 2016,
and finished her fellowship at the Cleveland
Clinic in 2019. Her research and clinical interests
include physician burnout, patient-physician
communication, and medical education.
Ravi Virdi, MD
Assistant Professor
Dr. Virdi attended medical
school at India’s Government
Medical College and
completed his residency at
Nassau University Medical
Center. After a pulmonary fellowship at the
University of Southern California, he joined
UAB Medicine in 2019. Dr. Virdi’s clinical and
research interests focus on airway management,
interstitial lung disease, and critical care
medicine.
Aline Zouk, MD
Assistant Professor
After completing her initial
medical training at American
University of Beirut, Dr. Zouk
completed a residency at
Indiana University, followed
by a pulmonary medicine fellowship at UAB. She
then completed an interventional pulmonology
fellowship at New York University before
returning to UAB. Dr. Zouk’s clinical and research
interests include ventilation and intubation,
pulmonary hypertension, cystic fibrosis, and
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
FALL 2019
To read this and previous issues online, please visit uabmedicine.org/pulmupdate
COHORT WILL STUDY HOW VAPING, ENVIRONMENT,
AND LIFESTYLE IMPACT LONG-TERM LUNG HEALTH IN
MILLENNIALS
Physicians in the UAB Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care
Medicine say there is little information on the long-term respiratory impact
of vaping, just as there is little information on whether poor air quality where
people grow up increases their risk for respiratory conditions later in life.
These issues will be examined in a large, first-of-its-kind longitudinal study of
lung health funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The study, titled “The American Lung Association Lung Health Cohort,” is
supported by a $24.8 million grant awarded by the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute (NHLBI) to Northwestern University. UAB will serve as a major
study site. Researchers will capture baseline lung health measurements of
4,000 healthy adults age 25-35 to identify an ideal picture of respiratory
health and understand the key risk factors and biomarkers associated with
impaired lung health.
Scientists will follow these individuals for six years to track how their
environment, lifestyle, and physical activity habits affect their respiratory
health. Participants will be measured on their exposure to smoking, drinking,
and vaping; have a nutritional assessment; wear physical activity monitors; and
self-report symptoms such as fatigue and sleep disturbances.
“The long-term impact of e-cigarettes and vaping is not known, and it is
possible that these habits are as harmful as smoking,” says Mark Dransfield,
MD, medical director for the UAB Lung Health Center. “It is critically important
that we understand the health effects, as millions of young people are now
using these products.”
“We know that smoking and air pollution contribute to lung disease,” Dr.
Dransfield continues. “But our understanding of other risk factors, particularly
in youth and young adulthood, is limited, and this has hampered preventive
efforts.”
Researchers will leverage the national infrastructure of the American Lung
Association’s Airways Clinical Research Centers to recruit study participants
from its 17 metropolitan centers across the country, including UAB,
Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Brigham and Women’s
Hospital, the University of Michigan, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center.
The long-term goal of the study is to identify who is at risk for developing
chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),
emphysema, and pulmonary fibrosis.
SAVE THE DATE FRIDAY & SATURDAY
APRIL 3-4, 2020
UAB 2020
PULMONARY UPDATE The Hilton Birmingham at UAB
Mark your calendar now to attend
this upcoming CME and CEU event.