Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine
The Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine is a multi-faceted division with full time faculty who provide care for any form of acute or chronic lung disease or critical Illness.
The mission of the Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine is to provide the best clinical care available for patients with lung disease and associated medical illnesses in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We feel that this care can best be delivered within the VCU Health System. Our mission is further to provide the best teaching of lung disease and associated disorders to future physicians. Finally, we strive to explore critically important lung and vascular and metabolic diseases through organized research.
VCU is a flourishing medical center of excellence in respiratory and critical care medicine. Seeing high numbers of patients helps our doctors develop specialized knowledge that is built on years of experience. Division faculty have extensive training and experience in caring for patients exactly like you, and it shows. This knowledge and experience gives our patients the best chance for getting the treatment and care to help them feel better and live healthier and more productive lives.
From the initial visit through follow-up, VCU's pulmonologists work hard to know each patient’s concerns and then to set about creating an individualized and thorough treatment plan. Our team includes pulmonary physicians, cardiothoracic surgeons, researchers, pulmonary nurse specialists, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, and nutritionists. We are committed to providing all patients solace, answers, options and results.
Division faculty are always searching for better ways to help patients. VCU’s Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine Division has an active pulmonary clinical trials program. We've led research into the causes of COPD, adult cystic fibrosis, asthma, interventional pulmonology , pulmonary hypertension, sarcoidosis, global health,and interstitial lung disease.. We are committed to finding safer and more effective therapies for these problems. Engaging in clinical trials research allows the VCU faculty to find the best new therapy for our patients. VCU has developed numerous accredited subspecialty centers to ensure our patients receive optimal care.
Clinical Division faculty balance outpatient and inpatient responsibilities. The Division currently has 27 clinical faculty and five research faculty. Clinical faculty are regional and national award winning teachers and clinicians who provide the best patient care available in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Outpatients are cared for in the Adult Outpatient Pavilion (AOP) on the VCU Medical Center Campus, at the Stony Point Medical Center Campus, at the Mayland Campus, at the Reynold’s Crossing Campus, and in Williamsburg, Tappahannock, and South Hill Virginia.
Faculty members within the pulmonary disease and critical care medicine division ensure that the future of medicine remains bright through training our pulmonary disease and critical care medicine fellows, internal medicine housestaff and medical students. The Division also provides medical directorship to the Department of Respiratory Care, Pulmonary Function Laboratory, Pulmonary Rehabilitation facilities, and the Medical Respiratory Intensive Care Unit.
Faculty
Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine
VCU Faculty
- Farrukh Abbas, MD
- Lisa K. Brath, MD
- Nauman A. Chaudary, MD
- Marjolein de Wit, MD
- Jared Dyer, DO
- Alpha A. Fowler, MD
- Margaret Freeberg, PhD
- Daniel C. Grinnan, MD - Interim Division Chief
- Catherine E. Grossman, MD
- Thomas Iden, MD
- Peter Jackson, MD
- Danai Khemasuwan, MD
- Michael L'Heureux, MD
- Jessica McLaughlin, DO
- Kristin B. Miller, MD
- Patrick Nana-Sinkam, MD
- James O'Connor, MD
- Vipul Patel, MD - Director, Lung Transplant
- Sammy Pedram, MD
- Apostolos Perelas, MD
- R. Wesley Shepherd, MD
- Patricia J. Sime, MD - Department Chair
- Elizabeth Sonntag, MD
- Aamer Syed, MD
- Thomas Thatcher, PhD
- Toribiong Uchel, MD
- Robert A. Winn, MD - Director, Massey Cancer Center
- Darryn Winter, DO
Advanced Practice Providers
- Dana Alderson, FNP
- Stephanie Bork, MSN, FNP-BC, APRN
- Janet Pinson, MSN, ACNP
- Shelly Glover, FNP
VAMC Faculty & Advanced Practice Providers
- Seth E. Brant, MD, Section Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
- Massoud Faridnia, MD
- Tim Fusiak, DO
- Adam Kaisher, MD
- Ben Morang, DO
- Becky Potfay, MD
- Suzzette Cameron Moore (ANP)
- Lauren Elizabeth Miles Byrens (LCS ANP)
- Saji Nathan (LCS ANP)
- Meg Devore (Section RN)
- Susan Medina (AMSA)
- Cheila Garcia (AMSA)
VCU Emeritus Faculty
- Curtis N. Sessler, MD
Clinical Areas
Learn more about our clinical services.
The Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine excels in helping seriously ill patients. Our results speak for themselves. Our strengths and accomplishments include:
General Pulmonary Consultation
Faculty and staff of the division provide rapid and comprehensive care for lung disease and are experts in diagnosing and treating pulmonary disease. The conditions most commonly seen at the VCU are:
- Acute and Chronic Bronchitis
- Abnormal Chest X-rays
- Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency
- Asthma
- Atypical Mycobacterium
- COPD
- Emphysema
- Immunological Lung Disease
- Interstitial Lung Disease
- Long COVID
- Lung Cancer
- Pneumonia
- Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Pulmonary Embolism
- Pulmonary Hypertension
- Sarcoidosis
- Sleep Apnea
- Tuberculosis
Pulmonary faculty will arrange for all necessary testing to provide an accurate diagnosis of your lung problem. Testing commonly includes pulmonary function testing and exercise testing; blood work or sputum samples for lab tests; chest x-rays or other imaging tests like a CT scan; electrocardiograms, echocardiograms; or sleep studies. Importantly, Division faculty work closely with Cardiology faculty in case cardiac catheterization is needed. For your convenience, all of these tests and doctor visits can be done at VCU. Your illness may require special tests or highly specialized care. Once your condition is diagnosed, your pulmonary doctor will describe your options for treatment and refer you to the appropriate clinic as needed.
Interventional Pulmonology
The Interventional Pulmonology (IP) Service led by Dr. R. Wesley Shepherd with faculty members Dr. Danai Khemasuwan, and Dr. Torib Uchel. The IP program has continuously managed an accredited IP fellowship program for over 15 years. The IP service provides a full breadth of pleural, parenchymal, and airway-based interventions expanding from the bronchoscopy suite to the Operating Room.
You can find more information on Interventional Pulmonology services here.
Pulmonary Hypertension
The Pulmonary Hypertension Center is accredited by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association as a Comprehensive Care Center and is led by Dr. Daniel Grinnan with faculty members Jared Dyer MD, Janet Pinson ACNP, and Liz Sonntag MD playing key roles. This center provides advanced diagnostic care and management for patients with pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure.
Interstitial Lung Disease
The Interstitial Lung Disease Center is accredited by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation and led by Dr. Apostolos Perelas. Our multidisciplinary center partners with rheumatology, chest radiology, pathology, and thoracic surgery and has developed a broad array of clinical research trial opportunities and advanced therapies for our patients.
Cystic Fibrosis
The Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Center is accredited by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and is Directed by Nauman Chaudary, MD. Our CF Center is a leading Center for clinical research trials, expert multidisciplinary care, and serves as a focal point for the local and regional community to learn about CF.
Sarcoidosis Center
The Multidisciplinary Sarcoidosis Center is accredited by the World Association for Sarcoidosis and other Granulomatous Diseases (WASOG) and includes providers from pulmonary medicine (Dr. Aamer Syed, Dr. Tom Iden, Dr. Jess McLaughlin, and Dana Alderson FNP), cardiology, neurology, dermatology, and rheumatology. This multicenter approach offers exceptional patient care and unique opportunities for clinical research studies.
Lung Transplantation
The Lung Transplantation program is led by Dr. Vipul Patel and is an accredited lung transplant center with dedicated surgical and medical teams. Patients can be evaluated at Williamsburg or South Hill location, in addition to the Main Campus in Richmond.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation
The accredited Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center is led by Dr. Jim O’Connor and has locations on the Main Campus as well as at Reynold’s Crossing. Having access to a highly skilled pulmonary rehabilitation team provides our pulmonary patients the opportunity to improve their functionality through these services.
Asthma Center
The Asthma Center involves providers from pulmonary medicine (Dr. Farrukh Abbas, Stephanie Borg FNP-BC), allergy and immunology, otolaryngology, and specialty pharmacy. The comprehensive approach to patient care allows optimal patient care for those with moderate to severe asthma.
General Pulmonology
We are proud to offer general pulmonology care at locations ranging from Tappahannock to Williamsburg and South Hill, in addition to the many locations within Central Virginia.
Critical Care Medicine Inpatient Service
If you or other adult family members develop critical illness, Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine faculty at VCU are experts in caring for patients with acute illness such as severe pneumonia, or bacterial bloodstream infection. Division faculty direct all care in VCU’s Medical Respiratory Intensive Care. The excellent outcomes of care in the MRICU occue due to the fact that the unit is a closed unit. Division faculty are experts in mechanical ventilation.
InPatient Pulmonary Consultation
Division faculty direct the inpatient pulmonary consultation service. You or your family will receive prompt and rapid diagnosis of pulmonary problems severe enough to require hospitalization. Your care will be rapid and accurate.
Important Divisional Educational Fellowship Activities
The faculty of the Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine are experts in educating medicine’s next generation. All faculty members are award winning educators. The faculty educates medical students and Internal Medicine Residents. Fellowship training in Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine is sponsored by VCU’s Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine. The Division is comprised of both physician educators and physician scientists who are focused on educating and training physicians in all aspect of the clinical and basic sciences of respiratory medicine. VCU Medical Center and the McGuire Veterans Administration are the teaching institutions for this activity and it includes state of the art inpatient and outpatient facilities a location for nationally recognized diagnostic and treatment center for advanced lung diseases. Following a three year fellowship, Fellowship trainees will be board eligible for certification in pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine. All physician trainees will have access to research programs that focus on pathophysiology, cell biology and molecular biology. The integration of research with patient care assures complete training in pulmonary and critical care medicine, and provide opportunity for Fellows to enter either academic medicine or private practice. Dr. Lisa Brath, Professor of Medicine is the Director of the Division’s Fellowship Program
Research
Learn more about our cutting edge research.
VCU’s Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine is conducting critically important active ongoing research projects involving clinical, translational, and basic science. As the above clinical subspecialties have matured, they have each developed significant portfolios of clinical research opportunities that are meaningful to our patients while also providing opportunity to those training at VCU. In addition, we are fortunate to have ongoing research laboratories under the leadership of Dr. Patricia Sime and Dr. Margaret Freeberg. These laboratories have not only created novel breakthroughs in pulmonary medicine, they also train the next generation of researchers and provide valued mentorship across our division. We particularly encourage our pulmonary and critical care fellows to pursue research activities, and we provide intramural funding for projects that are led by our fellows.
Contacts
Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine
Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine
1200 East Broad Street
Box 980050
Richmond, Virginia, 23298-0050
Phone: (804) 828-9071
Division Contacts
Medicine
Daniel C. Grinnan, MD
Interim - Division Chief
Box 980050
Richmond Virginia 23298-0050
Fax: (804) 828-2578
Email: daniel.grinnan@vcuhealth.org
Administration
D. Brent Kimball, RN, MHA, FACHE
Division Administrator
Phone: (804) 828-7788
Fax: (804) 828-2578
Email: brent.kimball@vcuhealth.org