When one of his patients was determined to climb to a Mount Everest base camp despite his severe asthma, his doctor, Geoffrey Chupp, MD, said don’t do it. When he couldn’t dissuade his patient, Chupp monitored him throughout the adventure via text messages. Another patient wanted to book a lengthy plane trip after losing a parent, and Chupp worked with her to make the flight possible despite her dependence on an oxygen tank. She called him as soon as she landed and brought him a souvenir mug.
“When your patients live with a disease that is always with them, the relationship has to go beyond office visits and call backs at the end of the day,” Chupp said.
Chupp specialized in chronic disease partly because he liked the idea of having ongoing relationships with his patients. His particular interest in asthma became personal when his own son developed the disease. “I saw Billy at 18 months old, lying at the end of the bed, wheezing,” he says. “At 19, he’s doing great—plays the tuba, runs cross-country. But I want to know that there will be help for him 20 years down the road.”
Chupp established and directs the Yale Center for Asthma and Airways Disease (YCAAD). This clinical facility and research institute is contributing to medical advances that are having a major impact on more than 25 million people in the United States with asthma and other airways diseases.
He cites two promising new therapies: injectable substances that target the molecules causing airway inflammation. These are still in clinical trials, although the FDA has approved one and will approve another next year. Bronchial thermoplasty is an outpatient procedure in which heat is used to reduce the thickness of airway muscles, reducing the muscles’ ability to spasm. Bronchial thermoplasty is already available to patients at Yale.
Maintaining relationships with patients has gone a long way toward advancing in research as well as becoming a strong clinician, Chupp said. “I went into medicine to help people, and my interactions with patients enhances my understanding of their disease over time; with chronic illness, you don’t determine what’s going on by one event or at one time point. My patients are always incredibly respectful as we work together to figure out how they can have the lives they want.”
More about Dr. Chupp
Name: Geoffrey Chupp, MD
Area of expertise: Asthma
Medical School: George Washington University
Additional training: Pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship at Boston University School of Medicine.
What advice do you have for asthma patients who don’t want to let their disease to hold them back? Our goal is to help our patients enjoy all the activities that people without asthma can—and that is achievable for many of them. Anyone who feels constrained by their condition should seek evaluation by a specialist in airway diseases and not settle for a life with limitations.
Personal interests: Hiking, running, skiing, cooking, renovating the house.
Family: Married to Barbara Chernoff Chupp, health care attorney. They have three children: Billy, Lisa, and Scott.
Last book read: Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer