Our Speakers

Stephanie M. Levine

MD, FCCP, USA

Stephanie M. Levine MD, FCCP, is a Professor of Medicine with tenure in the Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. She is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and critical care medicine. She was President and Chair of the CHEST Foundation from 2010-2014 and is currently on the Board of Regents of CHEST. Dr. Levine has been selected to serve as the 82nd President of CHEST and 5th Woman to lead the organization for the 2019-2020 term.

William F. Kelly

MD, FCCP, USA

Dr. Kelly is Professor of Medicine and certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Uniformed Services University. He is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and a Colonel in the United States Army Medical Corps. He has held many national leadership positions, including Chair of Education for CHEST. He has over 50 peer-reviewed published manuscripts, chapters, or abstracts, more than 150 presentations, including national and international meetings and workshops, and over 30 teaching and research awards. Dr. Kelly's original live and computer-based educational games have reached over 15,000 physicians in North America, Spain, India and China.

Francesco de Blasio

MD, FCCP, Italy

Dr. de Blasio is Chief, Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Section at Clinic Center Private Hospital, Naples, Italy. He is also Clinical Head of the Smoking Cessation Intervention Program at the same institution. He is a CHEST Regent-at-Large and the past chair of the CHEST Council of Global Governors.

Girolamo Pelaia

MD, FCCP, Italy

Girolamo Pelaia works at Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Italy, where he is Full Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, Director of the Postdoctoral Specialization School of Respiratory Diseases, and Head of the Respiratory Disease Unit. In 1985, he received a degree in Medicine and Surgery, with distinction (summa cum laude) from the University of Reggio Calabria, Italy; and in 1989, he graduated with distinction (summa cum laude) as a Specialist in Respiratory Diseases at the University of Naples “Federico II,” Italy. He subsequently worked from 1990 to 1992 as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA. Professor Pelaia’s clinical and research activities primarily deal with the pathophysiology and treatment of asthma and COPD. In particular, he is interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting bronchodilators, and anti-asthma biologic drugs. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 original articles and reviews published in international peer-reviewed journals as well as several book chapters.

Stefano Nava

MD, Italy

Stefano Nava, MD, is Professor of Respiratory and Critical Care at the University of Bologna, Director of the fellowship progam, and Chief of the Respiratory and Critical Care Sant’ Orsola Malpighi Hospital in Bologna, Italy. He is the Associate Editor of Breathe, Respiratory Care, Pulmonology, and European Respiratory Review. He has been a reviewer of more than 10 international peer-reviewed journals, including The Lancet, JAMA, and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He was Chairman of the Intensive Care Assembly at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) (2007-2010), Director of the ERS Postgraduate Courses (2011-2015), and previous member of the European Respiratory School. He was invited to more than 150 international meetings as speaker and to many national congresses; Dr. Nava has published 230 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
His fields of interest include mechanical ventilation, weaning, respiratory muscle, and ethics. In particular, he has developed the use of noninvasive mechanical ventilation as a weaning technique.

Semra Bilaceroglu

MD, Turkey

Dr. Semra Bilaceroglu is Professor of Pulmonology, Unıversıty of Health Scıences, Dr. Suat Seren Traınıng and Research Hospıtal for Thoracıc Medıcıne and Surgery, Izmır, Turkey. Dr. Bilaceroglu currently is working as the Academic Director of the 5th Pulmonary Department at Dr. Suat Seren Traınıng and Research Hospıtal for Thoracıc Medıcıne and Surgery. Her fields of interest are interventional pulmonology, pleural diseases, lung cancer, interstitial and granulomatous lung diseases and pulmonary vascular diseases. Following her services as the Secretary, President-Elect and President of the European Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (EABIP) between 2010 and 2018, she currently serves as the Past President in the EABIP Executive Board.

Mangala Narasimhan

DO, FCCP,USA

Dr. Narasimhan works for Northwell Health as the Regional Director of Critical Care Services and is an attending in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. She is the Medical Director of the Northwell Acute Lung Injury Center/VV ECMO program and ICU Director of the Medical ICU at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. She is a Professor of Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. She is teaching point of care ultrasound nationally for 15 years and is a testamur of the American Board of Echocardiography. Her research interests include point of care ultrasound in the critically ill, ECMO for acute lung injury and outcomes research in the ICU. She is on the education committee and is the Vice-Chair of the Live Learning subcommittee for CHEST. She has been the Chair or Co-Chair for over 15 Chest national and international courses.

Gerard A. Silvestri

MD, FCCP, USA

Hillenbrand Professor of Thoracic Oncology Vice Chair of Medicine for faculty development Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Medical University of South Carolina Charleston, SC Dr. Silvestri is the Hillenbrand Professor of thoracic oncology and Vice-Chair of Medicine for Faculty development at the Medical University of South Carolina. He completed his fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care at Dartmouth. He has an advanced degree in the evaluative clinical sciences, also from Dartmouth. He is a lung cancer and interventional pulmonologist with an interest in screening, nodule evaluation and management, staging of lung cancer, and device technology assessment. Dr. Silvestri is a writer and editor of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) lung cancer guidelines. He is a past president of the American Association of Bronchology and interventional pulmonology. Dr. Silvestri has authored more than 200 scientific articles, book chapters and editorials. He currently serves on the editorial board of Chest. Dr. Silvestri is currently the 2017 President of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Sandhya Khurana

MD, FCCP, USA

Dr. Khurana is an adult pulmonary and critical care physician with a specialized focus in management of severe difficult to treat asthma. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester and Director of the Mary Parkes Center for Asthma, Allergy & Pulmonary Care. Dr. Khurana's clinical and research interests include comprehensive multidisciplinary management of severe asthma. She has expertise in application of novel therapies for severe asthma including new monoclonal antibodies and bronchial thermoplasty. She is the site principal investigator in multicenter clinical trials evaluating new treatments in asthma. She is the past Chair of Airways Disorders NetWork of the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr. Khurana has co-authored several peer-reviewed papers including recent ERS/ATS severe asthma guidelines. She is a co-editor of the book Difficult to Treat Asthma: Clinical Essentials.

Sergio Harari

MD, Italy

Sergio Harari is Chief of the Department of Medicine and Director of the Division of Pneumology and Internal Medicine at San Giuseppe Hospital, Milan, which he founded in 1999. The division is a national reference for the diagnosis and care of rare pulmonary diseases, vascular and interstitial. Dr. Harari introduced lung transplantation in Italy and for 10 years was director of the first Italian program in advance respiratory failure and lung transplantation. His fields of interest cover rare pulmonary diseases (IPF, LAM, Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis, pulmonary hypertension, etc) and clinical research on orphan drugs. In addition, Dr. Harari is author of numerous publications in international peer-reviewed journals and specialty books and is Section Editor of the European Respiratory Review and Associate Editor of European Respiratory Journal.

Neil S. Freedman

MD, FCCP, USA

Head Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Immunology, North Shore University Health System in Evanston Illinois and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine Dr. Freedman is board certified in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. He is currently on the Board of Regents for the American College of Chest Physicians and has served in many leadership and educational roles for CHEST over the years. He is published in peer-review journals and textbooks and has lectured nationally and internationally in the fields of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. He has been awarded a number of accolades including the ACCP Distinguished CHEST Educator Award in 2017-2019 and the Excellence in Education Award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

Bartolome R. Celli

MD, FCCP, USA

Bartholome Celli, MD, FCCP, graduated from Universidad Central de Venezuela and was Chief Medical Resident at the Boston City Hospital. He then trained in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. Currently, he is Professor of Medicine at Tufts and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Celli has published over 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 425 abstracts and edited several books. He has been the Chairman of the Committee that established the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of COPD. In addition, he is on the Scientific Committee of the Global Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) initiative and currently serves on the Board of Directors of GOLD. Although caring for patients provides unique pleasure, Dr. Celli’s greatest achievement is to have personally helped mentor many young clinicians in medicine.

Lisa Moores

MD, FCCP, USA

Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Student Affairs The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Bethesda, MD Dr. Moores is the Associate Dean for Assessment and Professional Development and Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. She received her medical degree from the Uniformed Services University in 1989 and then completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. Upon graduation from her fellowship, she was awarded the Outstanding Graduating Fellow Award and the Baily K. Ashford Award for Outstanding Clinical Research. Dr. Moores recently retired after a 30 years of active service in the United States Army Medical Corps. Throughout her career, she has been awarded several teaching awards, including the Walter Reed Department of Medicine Outstanding Teacher, The Army Internal Medicine Master Teacher Award, the William P. Clements Award for Outstanding Military Educator, the American College of Chest Physicians Edward C. Rosenow Master Teacher Honor Lecture, the American College of Physicians Jane F. Desforges Distinguished Teacher Award, and the 2018 CHEST Master Clinician Educator Award. Dr. Moores has more than 100 invited presentations and more than 50 published journal articles and book chapters, which reflect her interests in venous thromboembolism, medical education, and adult learning.

Steven Simpson

MD, FCCP, USA

Dr. Simpson is a graduate of Baker University and the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He completed Internal Medicine residency at KU and Pulmonary fellowship at Rush University. He has served on the faculty of Rush, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Kansas, where he is currently Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, where he was previously fellowship director, division chief, and director of 3 ICUs, as well as director of the cardiopulmonary module for MD students. He is a lifelong sepsis researcher, educator, and evangelist for early diagnosis and aggressive treatment. He is now Senior Advisor to the Solving Sepsis program in the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority of the US Department of Health and Human Services. He is a devoted CHEST member, having served as Chair of the Critical Care NetWork, and he is currently the President-elect of CHEST. He also serves on the board and is the Chief Medical Officer of Sepsis Alliance.

Otis Rickman

DO, FCCP, USA

Dr. Otis B. Rickman is a Board Certified, Interventional Pulmonologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology ('94) and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine ('98) from Oklahoma State University. Internal medicine residency and pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship were both completed at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Immediately after fellowship training in 2004, he joined the faculty at Mayo Clinic as a member of the advanced bronchoscopy and interventional pulmonology group. Dr. Rickman moved to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN in late summer of 2009 where he founded the Interventional Pulmonology section. He currently serves as the Founding Director of Interventional Pulmonology, Bronchoscopy and Lung Nodule Clinic. He is the Co-Director of the Lung Screening Program and Associate Professor of Medicine and Thoracic Surgery at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He has been recognized by the American College of Chest Physicians as a Distinguished CHEST Educator and is actively involved in procedural education at the local, national, and international level. His clinical and translational research interests focus on medical devices, early diagnosis, and prevention of lung cancer. His clinical work is focused on lung nodules, lung cancer, pleural diseases and interventional pulmonology.