Comments from the Director:
Rajiv Dhand, MD, FCCP, FACP, FAARC
The Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Environmental Medicine plays an important role
in the three-part mission of the University of Missouri-Columbia Health Sciences Center, the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, Columbia Regional Hospital, the Rusk Rehabilitation Center, and the Harry S. Truman VA Hospital.
Respiratory illnesses are highly prevalent among the people of Missouri. First and foremost, our mission is to develop a center of excellence that provides the highest level of clinical services. We have busy ICU services which offer outstanding facilities and a dedicated team of doctors and nurses to provide exceptional medical care. Our Diagnostic Center and Bronchoscopy Suite provide a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. The quality of care provided to our patients is monitored by a variety of national agencies including the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) and Certifying Agency on Pathology (CAP).
Our second mission is teaching. We offer a fully accredited three-year combined Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine fellowship. Currently, we have seven Fellows in our program. Pulmonary conferences take place from Monday through Friday. Pulmonary Grand Rounds provide a comprehensive review of new developments in the field and they are presented by department faculty or visiting faculty. Members of the division are very actively involved in teaching medical students, medical residents, family practice, anesthesiology, and neurology residents. In addition, we participate in training respiratory therapists, nurses and other medical professionals.
Our third mission is research. Our division takes pride in having an active clinical and basic science research program. We are currently participating in clinical trials involving patients with asthma and COPD. At the basic science level, our faculty members are attempting to discover the mechanisms underlying development of emphysema in a murine model. Factors influencing microvascular permeability in sepsis are being actively investigated. New applications of inhaled therapies in lung cancer and pneumonia are also being tested. Our faculty and fellows regularly present their work at national and international meetings, and are considered opinion leaders in a number of fields including asthma, obstructive lung diseases, aerosol therapy, pulmonary physiology, mechanical ventilation, and sepsis.
We are proud of our accomplishments and we look forward to even greater success in the future.
