Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program

The section established the Yale Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program (YPVDP) in 2005 to address the complex needs of these unfortunate patients. Coordinated by Janice Napoletano, R.N. and under the direction of Dr. Terence Trow, the center has more than quadrupled in size over the preceding six years, fostering important collaborative interactions with the Departments of Cardiology, Rheumatology, and Hematology. In addition, the center has dovetailed it's expertise with those of Dr. John Fahey's Adult Congenital Heart Disease program, Dr. Robert White's program on Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia, and Dr. Pramrod Mistry's interest in Gaucher's Disease exposing Yale Pulmonary Post-Graduate Fellows to many rare but important causes of pulmonary hypertension. In addition, the Yale Liver Transplant Program relies on the center's expertise in evaluating and treating transplant candidates with portopulmonary hypertension. Dr. Wassim Fares was recruited from the University of North Carolina to join the PVDP in October of 2011. Dr. Fares pursued an extra year of formal training in pulmonary hypertension before his postdoctoral fellowship training, and while at the University of North Carolina also earned his Master's in Clinical Research.  He will spearhead the PVDP efforts in translational research expanding on his prior research of a variety of biomarkers felt to be part of the pathologic process in pulmonary arterial hypertension. The center is actively involved in clinical research, currently conducting two studies of combination therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension, as well as examining the role of numerous biomarkers in this disorder. There is also active involvement of Dr. Trow and Dr. Fares in the Vascular Biology Translational Work Group, an organization that brings the Yale's molecular biology of vascular disease researchers together with clinicians who care for these disorders. As part of the PVDP's educational mission, an annual CME Symposium is held for clinicians and health care providers to update them on the ever changing therapeutic and research findings in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Janice Napoletano, R.N. runs a community based support group to address the educational and emotional needs of the pulmonary hypertension patients and their families.