Carolyn S. Calfee, MD MAS is Professor of Medicine and Anesthesia at the University of California, San Francisco, where she attends in the intensive care units. Her primary academic focus is the pathogenesis and treatment of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Current research projects include: (1) molecular subphenotypes of ARDS and precision medicine in critical care; (2) the role of environmental exposures including smoking, air pollution, and novel tobacco products in susceptibility to lung injury; and (3) novel treatments for ARDS. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has been the UCSF clinical lead and steering committee member for the NIAID-funded Immunophenotyping Assessment in a COVID-19 Cohort (IMPACC) study and she is one of the lead PI’s for the ISPY COVID clinical trial, a Phase 2 adaptive platform clinical trial of novel treatments for COVID-19 associated ARDS.

February 8, 2021

Serendipity, Curiosity, and Dogged Persistence....Research Made Easy
by Dr. Mervyn Singer

Mervyn Singer is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at University College London, UK. His research focusses primarily on sepsis, tissue oxygenation, shock, and novel monitoring techniques. He was the first intensivist to be awarded Senior Investigator status by the UK National Institute for Health Research, is current Chair of the International Sepsis Forum, co-led the ‘Sepsis-3’ international taskforce (with a certain C Deutschman Esq), and has authored/edited various textbooks including the Oxford Handbook of Critical Care and Oxford Textbook of Critical Care.

March 18, 2021 

Incorporating Microbiome Sciences in Shock-Related Research
by Dr. John C. Alverdy

John Alverdy, MD, FACS, is a leading surgeon-scientist with a focus on the molecular basis of surgical infections and the gut microbiome. Dr. Alverdy is the Sarah and Harold Lincoln Thompson Professor of Surgery and executive vice-chair, department of surgery, University of Chicago, IL. His research has received continuous National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding since 1999, and he has mentored many postdoctoral fellows, surgical trainees, and colleagues. Dr. Alverdy has served in leadership positions at many national organizations. He presented the I.S. Ravdin Lecture in the Basic and Surgical Sciences at the ACS Clinical Congress 2017, and he received the American Surgical Association’s Flance-Karl Award in 2018 for his groundbreaking work in surgical infection pathogenesis and microbiome research.

April 16, 2021

Microcirculatory Dysfunction in Inflammatory Injury
by Sarah Yuan, M.D., Ph.D

Sarah Yuan, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, where she also serves as Professor of Surgery and holds the Deriso Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Disease. With a training background as a trauma surgeon, Dr. Yuan has been conducting translational research aimed at discovering novel molecular mechanisms underlying system/organ pathophysiology with diagnostic and therapeutic implications. Her work focuses on the cellular and molecular control of microcirculatory function in inflammation. Currently, her laboratory investigates blood and endothelial cell-cell interactions that regulate vascular barrier integrity following trauma and sepsis. Her group is known for their expertise in studying endothelial permeability and developing innovative approaches for integrated analysis of human, animal, and cell models of inflammatory injury. Since 1994, her research has continuously been funded by the NIH, which has not only resulted in many high-impact publications, but also provided numerous training opportunities for physicians and basic scientists across multiple disciplines. The majority of her mentees have successfully advanced in their academic or research careers. Her achievements have been recognized nationwide with a number of prestigious honors and awards, including the Landis Award from the Microcirculatory Society, Fellow of the American Physiology Society, Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, an elected member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Most recently, she received the NHLBI Outstanding Investigator Award.