Pulmonary Fibrosis and Interstitial Lung Disease Program

The Pulmonary Fibrosis/Interstitial Lung Disease Program treats patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and related conditions, including collagen vascular-associated pulmonary diseases, Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, histiocytosis X, tuberous sclerosis, LAM, glycogen storage disease (Gaucher’s), secondary pulmonary hypertension, and advanced stage sarcoidosis and others. Patients with these conditions require specific medical attention, close follow-up, and associated services to optimize management of the disease.

There is an emerging area of new treatment options for patients with interstitial lung disease, and Mount Sinai and National Jewish Health are positioned to offer the latest and most promising therapies to patients with ILD. We provide advanced, comprehensive care for ILD and related conditions, with the goals of improving outcomes and survival, and enhancing our patients’ overall quality of life. We encourage participation in studies aimed at understanding the diseases and /or finding specific treatments.

Because of our unique experience in pulmonary asbestosis, sarcoidosis, and collagen-vascular diseases, the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care has become a center for the study of interstitial lung diseases concentrating on:

  • Pathophysiology
  • Epidemiology
  • Diagnosis
  • Treatment
  • Support
  • Scientific Investigation

We offer comprehensive sophisticated techniques including bronchoscopic biopsy and lavage, open lung biopsy, computerized diagnostic chest tomography (CT scans), and nuclear medicine scans.  Our physicians have extensive experience in the care of patients with diffuse lung disease including novel medication, and oxygen therapy.

JOURNAL CLUB: Evidence of Interstitial Lung Disease on Low-Dose Chest CT Images: Prevalence, Patterns, and Progression.
Salvatore M, Henschke CI, Yip R, Jacobi A, Eber C, Padilla M, Knoll A, Yankelevitz D. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2016 Mar;206(3):487-94. doi: 10.2214/AJR.15.15537. Epub 2015 Dec 23.

Honoring Roots in Multiple Worlds: Professionals' Perspectives on Healthy Development of Latino Youth.
Porta C, Allen ML, Hurtado GA, Padilla M, Arboleda M, Svetaz MV, Balch R, Sieving RE. Health Promot Pract. 2016 Mar;17(2):186-98. doi: 10.1177/1524839915606647. Epub 2015 Oct 1.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: the role of pathobiology in making a definitive diagnosis.
Padilla M.Am J Manag Care. 2015 Oct;21(14 Suppl):s276-83.

Review: interstitial lung disease associated with systemic sclerosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: how similar and distinct?
Herzog EL, Mathur A, Tager AM, Feghali-Bostwick C, Schneider F, Varga J.Arthritis Rheumatol. 2014 Aug;66(8):1967-78.

Chitinase 3-like 1 suppresses injury and promotes fibroproliferative responses in Mammalian lung fibrosis.
Zhou Y, Peng H, Sun H, Peng X, Tang C, Gan Y, Chen X, Mathur A, Hu B, Slade MD, Montgomery RR, Shaw AC, Homer RJ, White ES, Lee CM, Moore MW, Gulati M, Lee CG, Elias JA, Herzog EL. Sci Transl Med. 2014 Jun 11;6(240):240ra76

Bosentan for sarcoidosis-associated pulmonary hypertension: a double-blind placebo controlled randomized trial.
Baughman RP, Culver DA, Cordova FC, Padilla M, Gibson KF, Lower EE, Engel PJ. Chest. 2014 Apr;145(4):810-7. doi: 10.1378/chest.13-1766.

Fibroblast engraftment in the decellularized mouse lung occurs via a β1-integrin-dependent, FAK-dependent pathway that is mediated by ERK and opposed by AKT. Sun H, Calle E, Chen X, Mathur A, Zhu Y, Mendez J, Zhao L, Niklason L, Peng X, Peng H, Herzog EL. American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology 2014 Mar; 306(6).

Barriers to optimal palliative care of lung transplant candidates.
Colman RE, Curtis JR, Nelson JE, Efferen L, Hadjiliadis D, Levine DJ, Meyer KC, Padilla M, Strek M, Varkey B, Singer LG. Chest. 2013 Mar;143(3):736-43. doi: 10.1378/chest.12-0830.

Editorial: Sticking it to fibrocytes with serum amyloid P. Journal of leukocyte biology Mathur A, Herzog EL. 2012 Oct; 92(4).

Liver and combined lung and liver transplantation for cystic fibrosis: analysis of the UNOS database.
Arnon R, Annunziato RA, Miloh T, Padilla M, Sogawa H, Batemarco L, Willis A, Suchy F, Kerkar N.} Pediatr Transplant. 2011 May;15(3):254-64. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-3046.2010.01460.x. Epub 2011 Jan 10.

Case report: Lung disease in World Trade Center responders exposed to dust and smoke: carbon nanotubes found in the lungs of World Trade Center patients and dust samples.
Wu M, Gordon RE, Herbert R, Padilla M, Moline J, Mendelson D, Litle V, Travis WD, Gil J. Environ Health Perspect. 2010 Apr;118(4):499-504. doi: 10.1289/ehp.0901159.

Spectrum of fibrosing diffuse parenchymal lung disease.
Morgenthau AS, Padilla ML. Mt Sinai J Med. 2009 Feb;76(1):2-23. doi: 10.1002/msj.20087. Review.

Maria Padilla, MD, Director of the Pulmonary Fibrosis and Interstitial Lung Disease Program, Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
After completing her pulmonary fellowship at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Padilla pursued her studies in lung transplantation by attending the programs at Toronto General Hospital and Stanford University. She was the co-founder of the program at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. During her fellowship training, Dr. Padilla conducted research in pathology, developing models of pulmonary diseases under the mentorship of Dr. Jerome Kleinerman. She also participated in clinical research in Sarcoidosis and Interstitial Lung Diseases. She is a United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) certified transplant pulmonologist and a member of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT). She served on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of the World Association of Sarcoidsosis and Other Granulomatous Diseases (WASOG). Dr. Padilla is a committee member of the Interstitial Lung Disease Network of the American College of Chest Physicians, and is also a steering committee member of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Indentification: Lessons for Optimizing Treatment (PILOT). She serves on the medical advisory boards of the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis, the Sarcoidosis Research Foundation, the Hermansky Pudlak Syndrome Network, and the Scleroderma Foundation, Tri-State Chapter. She is a graduate of the Executive Leadership of American Medicine (ELAM) program.

Dr. Padilla specializes in the treatment of diffuse interstitial lung diseases, including idiopathic interstital pneumonia, acute interstital pneumonia, lymphocytic interstital pneumonia, non-specific interstital pneumonia, organizing pneumonia, bronchiollitis obliterans, and hypersensitivity pneumonia.  She also specializes in lung diseases associated with rheumatologic disorders, such as scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatomyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, and systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, she also treats drug-induced lung disease, mycobacterial lung disease, Langerhans cell hystiocytosis, lymphangioleimyomatosis, pulmonary vasculitis, alveolar hemorrhage, and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

Mary Beasley, MD, Associate Professor, Pathology, Associate Professsor, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine

Sakshi Dua, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine

Ioannis Tassiulas, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology

For more than a decade, Mount Sinai has actively participated in multicenter clinical trials researching medications that can potentially be helpful in this disease. While no treatment has emerged capable of reversing the disease, some hold promise of impacting the progression of the illness. Recently completed trials of medications used to treat Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, have successfully met their endpoints and have gained approval from the FDA to be marketed for this indication. Our Lung Diseases research team for IPF, led by Director of the ILD/ALD Program Maria L. Padilla, MD, has engaged in many trials studying the efficacy of various agents including those being considered for submission to the FDA.

"IPF has been a long-standing interest of mine," notes Dr. Padilla, who has extensively studied the epidemiology, biomarkers/genetics, and comorbidities of IPF and managed a large population of patients suffering with this complex illness.

Learn more about our clinical trials.