Current Pulmonology Reports - Meet the Editors
Remzi Bag
Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Remzi Bag is a senior associate consultant at Mayo Clinic Florida. Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases, and Critical Care Medicine, he brings extensive expertise to his roles. He serves on the editorial board of The Lung and holds the position of editor-in-chief at Current Pulmonology Reports.
Before joining Mayo Clinic, Dr. Bag held the position of associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, where he also served as the medical director of the lung transplant program and director of the pulmonary hypertension center.
Throughout his career, Dr. Bag's primary focus and priority have been on delivering cutting-edge, compassionate care to patients with advanced lung diseases and those requiring transplantation, with the aim of achieving exceptional patient outcomes. His scientific contributions include numerous publications and presentations in the fields of lung transplantation, donor management, and pulmonary hypertension. He has also played a pivotal role as a principal investigator in numerous clinical trials focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of interstitial lung diseases, pulmonary hypertension, and lung transplantation.
Currently, Dr. Bag's research focus is on chronic allograft rejection and leveraging artificial intelligence for early diagnosis of lung diseases. He has been actively involved in various capacities in local, regional, and international medical organizations, further enriching his contributions to the medical community.
Alexandre Rocha Abreu
Section Editor: Sleep and Breathing
Dr. Abreu is a clinical associate professor of Medicine at the University of Miami, where she serves as program director for the sleep medicine fellowship and as medical director of UHealth Sleep Program. In medical education, Dr. Abreu is interested in curriculum development and education. Clinically, he is particularly interested in multidisciplinary approaches to the care of patients suffering from sleep disorders. His research work has included evaluation of: A) neuromuscular stimulation and hypoglossal nerve stimulation in patients suffering from sleep disordered breathing (SDB); B) SDB relationship with cardiac arrhythmias, PFO, metabolic imbalances particularly insulin resistance. Dr. Abreu was presented in 2022 with the Dean’s Annual Faculty Award for Clinical Excellence at the University of Miami - Leonard M Miller School of Medicine on 2022. Dr Abreu is currently serving as member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Yüksel Peker
Section Editor: Sleep & Breathing
Dr. Yüksel Peker received his MD degree from Istanbul University School of Medicine in 1985. He moved to Sweden in 1987 and completed his internship in Internal Medicine followed by Pulmonary Medicine at the Skaraborg Education and Research Hospital, and University of Gothenburg Sahlgrenska Hospital, respectively. He received his PhD degree and Associate Professorship at the Pulmonary Department, University of Gothenburg in Sweden. He returned to Istanbul in 2015 as Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at the Marmara University, School of Medicine and founded the Sleep Medicine Center. He has been working as Professor at the Koc University, School of Medicine since December 2018.
Dr. Peker’s research has been mainly focused on the metabolic and cardiovascular aspects of sleep apnea and impact of treatment in randomized controlled trials, which have received a broad international response. He has been continuing his clinical research projects in Sweden as visiting senior researcher at the University of Gothenburg as well as at the Lund University. He has also an adjunct professorship at the University of Pittsburgh since 2017, and visiting professorship at the Brigham and Women's Hospital of the Harvard Medical School, Boston since January 2022.
Lydia Chelala
Section Editor: Chest Radiology
Dr. Lydia Chelala is an Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Radiology in the Cardiopulmonary Imaging division at the University of Chicago. She completed both her diagnostic radiology residency and her cardiothoracic fellowship training at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She has a strong interest in imaging of interstitial lung disease as well as lung cancer screening. Other areas of clinical and research interest include cardiovascular imaging and resident education. She is currently a lecturer at the AIRP Thoracic and Cardiovascular categorical course and serves as an Assistant Editor for the American Journal of Roentgenology.
Sujith V. Cherian
Section Editor: Environmental and Occupational Health
Sujith V Cherian MD, FCCP is Associate Professor within the divisions of Critical Care, Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine in the department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Health-McGovern Medical School, Houston. He is currently director of Interventional Pulmonology and Pleural Diseases at the Lyndon B Johnson Hospital, Houston with a keen interest in rare lung diseases as well as occupational and environmental lung diseases. He serves on the editorial board in leading respiratory journals including CHEST and has been section editor for Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases in Current Pulmonology Reports since 2019. Dr. Cherian has published more than 75 peer reviewed manuscripts, book chapters and recently co-edited a book- Rare Lung Diseases: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide to Diagnosis and Management, published by CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group. He is recipient of numerous teaching awards and was inducted into the Academy of Master Educators at the University of Texas Health-McGovern Medical School. Dr. Cherian is an elected fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and holds several leadership positions within the organization. Furthermore, he serves as peer reviewer for leading respiratory journals worldwide.
George A. Eapen
Section Editor: Interventional Pulmonology
Dr. George A. Eapen is a Professor in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, and Critical Care and is also a Diplomate of the American Association for Bronchology & Interventional Pulmonology. Additionally, he has earned healthcare change leadership and executive healthcare leadership certificates from Cornell University.
Throughout his career, he has held various academic and administrative appointments at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center including Director of Consult Services, Director of Educational Programs, Program Director of the Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship Program, Deputy Department Chair, and Section Chief of Interventional Pulmonology, among other roles. His contributions to the field of medicine have been recognized with several honors and awards. These include the Clinical Leader of the Year Award from the Department of Internal Medicine, and the Clinical Safety & Effectiveness Award from UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Eapen served as the President of the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology from 2019-2022. He also served in the United States Army Reserve for 22 years, retiring as a Colonel in 2021. His research interests are focused on the field of Interventional Pulmonology where he has led numerous clinical trials and has published more than 100 peer reviewed manuscripts.
Inderpaul Singh Sehgal
Section Editor: Bronchiectasis
Dr. Inderpaul Singh Sehgal is currently working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. His primary research area is chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, and bronchiectasis. He also maintains a keen interest in non-invasive mechanical ventilation, and in interventional pulmonology. Dr. Sehgal has more than 280 publications to his credit in peer reviewed journals and has an H-index of 36. He has received several academic awards for his contribution in the field of Pulmonary Medicine. He has been awarded ICMR Smt. Kamal Satbir award for the year 2017 for his research contribution in the field of Pulmonary Medicine. He has also been awarded with the prestigious ICMR Dr. P.N. Raju Oration Award for the year 2020 for his dedicated work in Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis. Dr. Sehgal is a member of national guidelines committee involved in the formulation of treatment guidelines for COPD, asthma, pneumonia, spirometry, bronchoscopy and cryo-transbronchial lung biopsy.
Srihari Veeraraghavan
Section Editor: Interstitial Lung Disease
Dr Srihari Veeraraghavan is a professor of medicine at Emory University, Atlanta and the director of the interstitial lung disease program at The Emory Clinic. He has nearly twenty-five years of experience in managing interstitial lung diseases and his clinic serves as a regional referral center for several rare lung diseases. He is actively involved in research conducting several clinical trials. In addition to seeing patients in the inpatient and outpatient settings, he is involved in training residents and fellows in pulmonary medicine.
George Chaux
Section Editor: Lung Transplant
George E. Chaux, MD, FCCP is Medical Director of the Bronchoscopy and Interventional Pulmonology Program.
Board certified in internal medicine, Dr. Chaux has specialized certification in pulmonary medicine and in critical care medicine. His primary areas of research and clinical interest involve state-of-the-art diagnosis, treatment and postoperative management strategies for patients with lung cancer, emphysema, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension and infectious disease of the lung. He is actively involved in developing the interventional pulmonology program at Saint John’s Medical Center as part of a comprehensive pulmonary and thoracic surgery service which includes the advanced use of rigid bronchoscopy, laser and argon plasma treatment of airway tumors, stenting of airway strictures and the introduction of new technologies such as robotic navigation bronchoscopy for the biopsy of peripheral lung lesions and endobronchial ultrasound for the biopsy of mediastinal lymph nodes.
Dr. Chaux has made numerous presentations at professional symposia, and he has written articles for peer-reviewed publications, including Circulation, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Critical Care Medicine, Transplantation, The Lancet, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, Chest and the Journal of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. He is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and a member of the American College of Physicians, American Thoracic Society, California Thoracic Society, the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation and the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology.
Dr. Chaux received his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. At the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, he completed an internship and residency in internal medicine, serving as Chief Resident, and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine. He also served as Medical Director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at UCSD following his training and before coming to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Over the past twenty years, Dr. Chaux has served as medical director of the lung transplant program and interventional pulmonary program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Both of these programs have grown tremendously under the direction of Dr. Chaux. The interventional pulmonary program in particular has grown to add a variety of cutting edge minimally invasive procedures important in the diagnosis and management of pulmonary nodules, lung cancer, emphysema, interstitial lung disease and infectious diseases of the lungs.
Dr. Chaux has been actively involved in Medicine and Pulmonary Grand Rounds, teaching of medical students, residents and fellows and in the education of nursing staff regarding the care of patients with complex pulmonary problems. He has been invited to give numerous lectures at other academic institutions such as UC Irvine and Harbor UCLA. He was recently invited to deliver a lecture at a symposium of an international meeting of the Latin-American Association of Thoracic Medicine in Colombia. He actively participates in the annual meeting of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology.
Ricardo Diaz Milian
Section Editor: POC Ultrasound
Ricardo Diaz Milian MD, holds dual senior associate consultant positions in the Department of Critical Care and the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Additionally, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
Dr. Diaz Milian's expertise spans across vital medical disciplines. Educated at Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala city, he furthered his training at Mayo Clinic, the Medical College of Wisconsin and Northwestern University. Before joining Mayo Clinic, he was an Associate Professor at Augusta University.
Dr. Diaz Milian's clinical focus includes providing anesthesia for complex surgical cases and managing critically ill patients in intensive care units, with particular attention to those requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. He is also proficient in critical care echocardiography, advanced transesophageal echocardiography, and is a Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography, a recognition to his advancement of the field of in clinical practice. As a researcher, Dr. Diaz Milian has significantly contributed to the medical literature, with numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and presentations at national and international levels. His research interests span across various aspects of critical care medicine, anesthesiology, and the ethical dimensions of medical practice. Dr. Diaz Milian's dedication to advancing medical knowledge and practice is further exemplified by his active participation in professional societies and editorial responsibilities in esteemed medical journals.