The pediatric pulmonology fellowship at UTHSC provides exceptional training opportunities for fellows. At Le Bonheur, fellows rotate on the primary pulmonology service, provide consultations throughout the hospital, including the NICU, PICU and intermediate care unit, and perform bronchoscopies. In addition to the continuity clinic, fellows are involved in our many excellent clinical centers, including our Cystic Fibrosis Foundation-accredited CF center, pediatric sleep disorders center, primary ciliary dyskinesia center, Muscular Dystrophy Association center and newly formed aerodigestive center. They have access to a full range of state-of-the-art testing modalities.
At St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, fellows provide consultations, perform bronchoscopies and read pulmonary function tests on a unique patient population. Varied research opportunities in cystic fibrosis, sleep disorders, lung disease in children with oncologic and hematologic processes, asthma and lung infections are available for fellows to pursue.
Learn more about UTHSC's Pulmonary program and apply.
Fellow Awards
- Natalie Francis - accepted to the Fellow Track Symposium, American Thoracic Society Conference
Research Interests
- Host-pathogen interactions in special populations with underlying chronic lung disease
- Immuno- and patho-biology of allergic hosts during respiratory infections (influenza virus and pneumococci), the role of antimicrobial peptides at the air-lung interphase and eosinophil development and function in health and disease
- Duchenne muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis (CF) and asthma
- Basic and translational CF studies:
- Characterization of an inhibitory protein complex for CF therapy
- Characterization of novel CF mutations
- Roles of CF transmembrane conductance regulator-containing protein complexes in fluid secretion and inflammatory responses in gastrointestinal systems - Proximity to local CF care center as a predictor of overall access to health care and positive health outcomes
- Sleep disturbances and obesity
- Screening tools and management for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
- Primary ciliary dyskinesia, CF quality improvement and aerodigestive diseases
