Speaker Spotlight

EPC Program Chair

Reynold A. Panettieri, Jr, MD, is Professor of Medicine, Vice Chancellor for Translational Medicine and Science, and the Director of the Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine and Science. He is principal investigator on several NIH-sponsored grants and industry-sponsored clinical studies, director of a program project grant examining novel approaches in modulating G protein-coupled receptor function, and is Principal Investigator of New Jersey’s CTSA Hub ‘New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science’. He has authored over 500 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Panettieri manages the clinical care of asthma patients and is engaged in clinical investigations on management of asthma and COPD.

EPC Co-Director

Anas Hadeh, MD, ATSF is a pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine physician at Cleveland Clinic Florida, where he serves as Program Director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. He is a clinician-educator dedicated to training and mentoring the next generation of physicians and has led fellowship education initiatives for more than a decade. Dr. Hadeh’s clinical and academic interests include asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung disease and sleep apnea. He co-directs the Bronchiectasis and NTM Center at Cleveland Clinic Florida, advancing multidisciplinary care, education, research, and national collaboration to improve patient outcomes. 

EPC Co-Director

 Russell Settipane, MD, co-director of the Allergy and Asthma Centers in East Providence, Rhode Island, is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. His allergy and immunology fellowship was completed at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, CA. He has participated in over 100 clinical trials and has authored more than 150 scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters in the field of allergy & immunology. Currently, he serves as President of the Rhode Island Society of Allergy, the American Association of Certified Allergists, and the Eastern Allergy Conference.    

Dr. Corrao, Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and founding partner of University Pulmonary Associates of East Greenwich, RI, currently serves as Clinical Affiliate Professor at Florida Atlantic University, Schmidt College of Medicine, donating services to West Palm Beach Veterans’ Hospital and the RI Free Clinic.

Dr. Corrao has been internationally recognized as lead author of the landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Cough as sole presenting symptom of asthma.”  As an authority in his field, he has taught and lectured all through the world, including India, Russia, Greece, Japan, Hong Kong, Spain, Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as throughout the US.

Dr. Corrao has been honored as “Outstanding Physician of RI,” by the American Thoracic Society.  In addition, he is the recipient of numerous Excellence in Teaching, and RI Monthly Top Physician awards.

Dr. Corrao has been a Governor of the ACCP, and served on numerous hospital and charitable boards.  He currently sits on the board of the Eastern Allergy Conferences, serves as reviewer of “Allergy & Asthma Proceedings” and consults to Brigham & Women’s Pulmonary Associates of Care New England.

Mario Castro, MD, MPH, L.E. Phillips and Lenora Carr Phillips Professor of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, started his medical career at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees. After completing residency and fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, he joined the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis where he stayed on as a faculty member for 25 years before coming to KU Medical Center. He also earned his Master of Public Health from St. Louis University. Today, he serves as the Vice Chair for clinical and translational research and director of the Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the KU School of Medicine. He’s also the chief of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the University of Kansas Health System. His translational research projects in the Asthma and Airway Translational Research Unit (AATRU) are focused on the pathogenesis of asthma and treatment of asthma, especially in severe disease.

Nicola (Nick) A. Hanania, MD, MS, is the Brown Foundation Professor of Medicine in the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and director of the Airways Clinical Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He also serves on the Faculty Senate at Baylor College of Medicine. He is the Chief of Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Ben Taub Hospital. He completed his medical training at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan, followed by a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. He subsequently completed a fellowship in critical care medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, where he later earned a master’s degree in clinical investigation.

Dr Hanania has received multiple awards, including the ACCP’s Distinguished Scholar in Respiratory Health, Baylor College of Medicine Master Clinician Award, ACCP distinguished CHEST educator (DCE), ACCP Humanitarian Award, Career Investigator Award (K23) from the National Institutes of Health, Fulbright and Jaworski’s Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching and Evaluation, and the Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He is editor-in-chief of Respiratory Medicine and is associate editor of the journal Lung. He serves on the editorial board of Chest, and COPD (J of COPD Foundation). 

Dr Hanania’s research interests focus on the pharmacology and management of asthma and COPD. He has published more than 320 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, editorials, and reviews on these topics. His research has been funded by NIH, ALA and industry and focuses on clinical trials investigating novel treatments. He is principal investigator for the American Lung Association Airways Clinical Research Center and COPD Gene study at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as principal investigator or co-investigator in several clinical trials in asthma and COPD. Dr Hanania has been invited and has lectured widely at local, regional, national, and international meetings. 

Dr. Monica Kraft is an internationally known physician-scientist who specializes in clinical and translational research in airway disease. She joined Mount Sinai as System Chair of the Department of Medicine in July 2022 and is also the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs. She was previously the Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson, as well as a Professor of Medicine and a Robert and Irene Flinn Endowed Chair in Medicine. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, she was the Charles Johnson Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, and Director of the Duke Asthma, Allergy and Airway Center at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

Dr. Kraft completed her MD degree at the University of California, San Francisco. She completed her residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center where she was also Chief Resident. Dr. Kraft completed her fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and joined the faculty as the Director of the Carl and Hazel Felt Laboratory for Adult Asthma Research and Medical Director of the Pulmonary Physiology Unit at National Jewish Health from 1995-2004. She was then recruited to Duke University to create and direct the Duke Asthma, Allergy and Airway Center in 2004. In addition to care of patients with severe lung disease, and teaching trainees, Dr. Kraft has published extensively in the area of adult asthma and COPD.

 Dr. Silvestri is the Hillenbrand Distinguished University Professor of Thoracic Oncology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He completed his training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and health services research degrees at Dartmouth. He is an international expert in lung cancer. His research includes lung cancer screening, nodule evaluation, staging, biomarkers for disease risk and treatment, and disparities. Dr. Silvestri is a writer of the ACCP lung cancer guidelines. He has authored more than 300 scientific articles, book chapters and editorials. He is past president of ACCP and serves on the journal Chest editorial board. He serves on the steering committee of the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable. Dr. Silvestri was the recipient of the 2020 lifetime achievement award in Lung Cancer from the ATS. In 2022, Dr. Silvestri was named an ACCP Master Fellow.  

Momen M. Wahidi, MD, MBA, is a professor of Medicine at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. He is the Health System Director of Interventional Pulmonology and the Medical Director of The Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern Medicine. Dr. Wahidi is a renowned expert in interventional pulmonology; he has lectured at numerous national and international meetings and published over 150 publications in peer-reviewed professional journals. He has contributed to landmark papers in bronchoscopy and pleural diseases as well as evidence-based guidelines on EBUS and lung cancer.  He received the 2011 McLennan Award for Achievements in Interventional Pulmonology granted by the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. He also received the Pasqual Ciaglia Honor Lecture in Interventional Medicine from The American College of Chest Physicians in 2014. Dr. Wahidi is the past president of the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. 

Dr. Lugogo is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care Medicine and is the Director of the Michigan Medicine Asthma Program. She is also the Program Director of INHALE, a statewide collaborative quality improvement program that focuses on improving the care of patients with asthma and COPD in Michigan. Her research interests include identifying new targeted therapies for asthma and implementing precision medicine approaches in the management of severe asthma. Her clinical interests focus on the management of severe refractory asthma.

David A. Zisman, MD, MS, FCCP is Chair of the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Weston Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Florida, and Director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program and Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in interstitial lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary hypertension associated with lung disease (PH-ILD). Dr. Zisman has held faculty appointments at the Mayo Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, and USC, and has authored several high-impact peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters. He serves on national and international research and advisory committees advancing pulmonary fibrosis and PH-ILD.

Dr. Samantha Gillenwater is a pulmonary and critical care physician at Cleveland Clinic in Weston Florida, where she serves as Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit. She earned her medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine and completed both her residency and fellowship training at Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida. Dr. Gillenwater has special interests in pulmonary hypertension, critical care medicine, and recovery after severe illness. She founded the Post-ICU Clinic to support patients transitioning from intensive care to long-term recovery. Her work focuses on compassionate, evidence-based care, multidisciplinary collaboration, and advancing outcomes for critically ill patients.

Dr. James R Klinger, MD, FCCP, ATSF is a member of the Division of Pulmonary, Sleep and Critical Care of Medicine at Rhode Island Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the Albert Medical School of Brown University. He is an NIH-funded basic science investigator with extensive experience in basic science and clinical research in pulmonary hypertension. He currently serves as the director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association accredited Comprehensive Care Center for PAH at Rhode Island Hospital and is co-chair of the CHEST Guidelines Committee for Pharmacologic Therapy for Adult Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. 

Dr. Diego Maselli is the Division Chief and a Professor of Medicine for the Division of Pulmonary Diseases & Critical Care at UT Health in San Antonio. Dr. Maselli is the Medical Director of Respiratory Care for the University Health System in San Antonio and the Medical Director of the Severe Asthma Program at the University Health System/University of Texas Health. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the UT Health Houston and fellowship in Pulmonary Diseases & Critical Care at the UT Health San Antonio, remaining as part of the faculty. In 2016, he started the Severe Asthma Program at the University Health/ UT Health. His research focuses on severe asthma, non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, and COPD, and he has published more than 90 peer reviewed manuscripts. 

Dr. Juan C. Salgado is a transplant pulmonologist and intensivist with expertise in advanced lung

disease, extracorporeal life support (ECMO), and perioperative lung transplant critical care. He serves

as Medical Director of the Lung Transplant Program at Piedmont Healthcare, where he is leading the development of a comprehensive thoracic transplant and ECMO platform. Dr. Salgado completed

fellowship training in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Pulmonary Transplant Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His academic interests focus on the management of critically ill patients with end-stage lung disease, ECMO bridging strategies, and immediate postoperative lung transplant care.

He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and lectures internationally on ECMO, transplantation, and thoracic critical care. 

Dr Swenson is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Bronchiectasis & Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Lung Disease Program at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Additionally, he is the Section Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Emory St. Joseph’s campus and the Chief of Medicine for the hospital.  

Dr Swenson’s research interests include infectious pulmonary diseases, particularly nontuberculous mycobacterial disease, and clinical outcomes in patients with bronchiectasis and NTM-PD. He is the Principal Investigator on numerous clinical trials evaluating novel treatments for bronchiectasis and nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease and directs both the Bronchiectasis Research, Education, and Therapeutics (BREATHE) initiative and the 

bronchiectasis biorepository and data warehouse exchange (BRIDGE) at Emory. 

He has published articles on topics such as nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary infections, the recognition and treatment of bronchiectasis, and the treatment of eosinophilic asthma. He is the associate editor of Chest Infections for the journal CHEST Pulmonary and frequently lectures on the diagnosis and treatment of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis. 

Dr. Andrej Petrov is a professor of medicine and Section Chief of Allergy in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is the Director of the Upper Airway Exercise Breathing Center, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of the upper and middle airway causes of dyspnea.  His research interests are focused on the interaction between the upper airway disorders and respiratory and allergic conditions.   

Dr. Bukstein is a board-certified allergist/ immunologist and pediatric pulmonologist. He holds hospital staff appointments at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center, in Madison and Waukesha Memorial Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He worked as a pediatric intensive care physician for 17 years at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center. He has been active in resident education and was an Assistant professor of Family Practice and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin for over 30 years. He serves as a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology; the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; and the American Thoracic Society. Dr. Bukstein is considered a national expert in using clinical outcomes for managed care. He has had numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals, including The American Journal of Managed Care, Allergy, Pediatrics, and Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management. He also gives approximately 50 presentations annually at national and international meetings. These presentations have focused on allergic disease, asthma, quality of life, health outcomes and telemedicine.   

Emeritus Fellow of both the AAAAI and ACAAI. Pediatric residency at Washington University, St. Louis. Fellowship in Allergy & Immunology at the National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, Denver, Colorado. Former Senior partner, Allergy Consultants, P.C. 40 years in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. Current President, THE PBL Institute, LLC. He has facilitated hundreds of educational conferences in the A./I. field nationally, involving interactive case discussions known as “problem-based learning” or PBL. He has initiated PBL workshops into both the AAAAI and ACAAI annual meetings, the Eastern Allergy Conferences yearly for the last 21 years.