The Section of Pulmonary Medicine has been in existence at Yale for approximately 40 years. In the early 1970s the Section was directed by Dr. Arend Bouhuys. In 1976 Dr. Herbert Reynolds was recruited from the NIH to direct the Section. He stayed in this position until 1989. In keeping with national trends, responsibility for medical critical care was added to the sections portfolio in the 1980's. Since 1990, under the leadership of Dr. Jack Elias, the Section has expanded its clinical, research and educational programs. As a result, the section of Pulmonary and Critical Medicine is nationally and internationally recognized for its patient care, investigative and training activities.

Faculty members are board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, critical care medicine, and sleep medicine. We also have physicians who specialize in interventional pulmonary medicine.  Members of the faculty work closely with physicians in cardiothoracic surgery, diagnostic and interventional radiology, thoracic oncology and pathology to provide comprehensive care.

A large number of clinical programs have been established to address the diversity of the diseases and disorders of the respiratory tract. The Section provides consultative care to all adult inpatient services and primary care in the Medical Intensive Care Units at Yale New Haven Hospital (Y-NHH) and the VA-CT Medical Center and runs the Yale Sleep Center which has offices throughout CT. It also runs a large outpatient program out of the Winchester Chest Clinic that includes subspecialty programs in a variety of chest disorders.

The Section has a wide and varied research portfolio that extends from basic bench-focused studies of disease pathogenesis and target gene validation to human-based studies of clinical issues such as cognitive impairment in the MICU and the cardiovascular consequences of sleep apnea. A unifying theme amongst the bench focused investigators is the desire to elucidate the cellular and molecular events involved in lung inflammation, injury and repair. The result has been an intense focus on immunology and molecular biology and the development of scientific approaches at Yale that are now used through out the world.

The PCCM Fellowship Program continues to enjoy an outstanding national and international reputation for quality and continues as one of the top PCCM training programs in the nation, under the directorship of  Dr. Margaret Pisani, and  Drs. Shyoko Honidenand Christine Won, as Associate Program Directors. Our program expanded a few years ago to 5 fellows, bringing the total to 18. Graduates of our Program are highly sought after in academic medicine programs. Under the sponsorship of the Section's T32 NIH sponsored training grant, present day fellows are receiving advanced training in molecular biology, cell biology, statistics, study design and clinical research. We also have a one-year sleep medicine fellowship program directed by Dr. Francoise Roux. Fellows may obtain advanced degrees through the Department's PhD Investigative Medicine Program and Masters program at the Yale School of Epidemiology Public Health.