Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Research

The Divisions of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at MSM, MSW and MSBI provide ample opportunities for clinical, epidemiological, quality improvement, medical simulation, medical education and basic science research. Our faculty and fellows are engaged in a broad-range of investigations, with opportunities to collaborate with investigators throughout the Mount Sinai Health System.

During the first year of training, fellows meet with the Program Director to identify research and career interests and to establish a research mentor. Research projects are then integrated over three years with up to 6 months in dedicated research time during the third year.

All fellows complete our Quality Improvement (QI) Curriculum. This program provides a foundation in the science of QI and the application of principles to improve quality, patient safety and value in health care. Fellows develop and lead individual and group QI projects in pulmonary or critical care.

Resources for research include IRB guidance and availability of statistical support, system-wide research symposia and system-wide research education seminars. Fellows receive support to present their work at national, local and regional conferences.

Our faculty and fellows are engaged in a broad range of investigations as detailed below.

Research Opportunities – 

The faculty in our division are actively involved in a number of research projects including:

  • Lauren Blackwell: VTE and COVID-19 outcomes, curricular development, interprofessional education
  • Alexander Davidovich: sedation/sedatives in the ICU, improving humanism through ICU narratives, Teaching Scholars Curriculum, simulation training, POCUS
  • Edward Eden, MD: outcomes in COPD, alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, advances in the therapy of bronchiectasis, innovations in medical education
  • Jason Filopei, MD: POCUS, short and long-term outcomes of pulmonary embolism
  • Rostislav Gorbatov: medical education, point of care ultrasound
  • Raymonde Jean, MD: sleep disorders in critical illness, obesity in the critically ill, critical care outcomes, acute respiratory failure
  • Susannah Kurtz, MD: medical simulation, medical education, sepsis, death certificate improvement
  • Young Im Lee, MD: ultrasound assessment of the diaphragm in intubated patients; critical care outcomes; COVID-19 outcomes
  • Joseph Mathew, MD: critical care outcomes, critical care ultrasonography, airway management, simulation training
  • Albert Miller, MD: PFT findings in patients with HIV; occupational health outcomes
  • Lina Miyakawa, MD: QI and Patient Safety, HFNC for Hypoxic Respiratory Failure, RRTs/Cardiac Arrests, POCUS, COVID-19 outcomes
  • Mirna Mohanraj, MD: innovations in medical education, novel curriculum development, simulation education and training, innovations in medical education, trainee well-being, bioethics
  • Gopal Narayanswami, MD: critical care ultrasonography, EBUS, procedural education
  • Mary O’Sullivan, MD: smoking cessation, asthma outcomes, ACOS, asthma and obesity, role of roflumilast in asthma
  • Paru Patrawalla, MD: effectiveness of point-of-care ultrasound training; relationship of educational outcomes to patient outcomes; simulation education; outcomes of patients receiving high-flow nasal cannula for acute respiratory failure; COVID-19 outcomes
  • James Salonia, MD:  Sepsis, pulmonary embolism, medical simulation, critical care ultrasonography
  • Janet Shapiro, MD: quality improvement and safety, hypothermia in cardiac arrest, ethics, simulation training
  • Adil Shujaat, MD: patient outcomes and QI for pleural procedures, bronchoscopy
  • David Steiger, MD: short and long-term outcomes of pulmonary embolism; use of an age-adjusted d-dimer on evaluation for pulmonary embolism; outcomes of submassive PE with initiation of a multidisciplinary PE response team; outcomes of patients receiving high-flow nasal cannula for acute respiratory failure
  • Gerard M. Turino, MD: COPD pathogenic mechanisms, elastin degradation as a biomarker in COPD, asthma and cystic fibrosis and hyaluronon as a COPD therapy
  • Jigna Zatakia, DO: Interstitial Lung Disease and outpatient pulmonary QI
  • Javier Zulueta, MD: Lung cancer screening with low dose CT; association of emphysema and COPD on the risk of lung cancer; detection of early, asymptomatic emphysema and COPD using CT image analysis and the impact of early intervention on the natural course of these diseases; emphysema as a risk factor for better selection of candidates for annual lung cancer screening

Please click here for a list of publications and presentations from our fellows.

The fellowship program is committed to the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Social Justice and Anti-Racism. We engage in mission-driven practices to systematically recruit and retain a diverse and demographically representative workforce of trainees. In doing so, we aim to reduce healthcare disparities, to provide care, and to generate research that is sensitive to the cultural needs of the communities we serve.

Our Fellowship Social Justice Collective works to actively transform the program into an anti-racist, diverse, and inclusive community where all our trainees and faculty can thrive. We are continuing the longitudinal work needed, but please read about some of our actions on this page.

Anti-Racism and Anti-bias Curriculum

  • Dedicated Grand Rounds
  • Topics have included the Historical Perspective on Racial Inequities in American Medicine; Unconscious Bias
  • Humanism & Equity Series every 6 weeks (healthcare disparities, community-building workshops, workplace improvement trainings, bias mitigation trainings)

Commitment to Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse Workforce

  • Use a holistic review for fellowship candidate selection
  • All faculty participate in an implicit bias training workshop
  • Behavior-based interview techniques

Faculty and fellow development workshops:

  • Implicit Bias recognition and mitigation
  • Addressing microaggressions and discrimination on the wards

Focus on Equity in Quality Improvement/Patient Safety and Research

  • Dedicated mentorship from faculty to address urgent issues of health inequities
  • Identifying fellow-led projects that will have a direct impact on the quality of patient care

Read about the Icahn School of Medicine’s commitment to diversity and inclusion

Read about the Mount Sinai Health System’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) 

Check out ODI initiatives, resources and Employee Resource Groups

Access the Icahn School of Medicine Human Resources Office