In many ways, the largest existential challenge for JHM is to evolve into a more integrated and efficient health system. This will be necessary for our department and school to secure a stable portfolio of resources into the future. To this end, the dean and CEO have called upon all departments to develop a set of plans to engage our health system, with a particular emphasis on the National Capital Region. In order to meet this mandate, our executive team, in collaboration with School of Medicine and Health System leaders, conceived a vice chair for clinical business development position. The vice chair for clinical business development will work with divisional, departmental and institution leadership to oversee and coordinate efforts to deliberately, and selectively grow our clinical operations outside of JHH and JHBMC. The primary area of focus will be the National Capitol Region.
As an initial step in this direction, I began working with Dr. Jonathan Orens because of his expertise in clinical program development. As these concepts evolved, Jon met with a broad range of health system and school leaders to compile a profile of opportunity for our department. I became convinced that he should be the inaugural vice chair for clinical business development, and am pleased that he has accepted this new leadership challenge. In order to promote the success of this new role, he will step down as the division director for Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Jon has devoted over a decade of his career to ensuring the success of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, first as director of clinical affairs, then as interim and ultimately as the division director. Through his dedication, the pulmonary division has continued to thrive as a national leader in NIH and industry sponsored funding and has continued to be on the forefront of cutting-edge basic, translational and clinical research. Because of his recognition of the importance of training future scientists and ensuring the success of junior faculty, under his leadership the pulmonary division has shown a steady track record of successful mentoring awards and transition of faculty to independent careers. While supporting an exceptional divisional research portfolio, Jon has ensured that the division maintained a high standard of clinical excellence and has facilitated the development of nationally and internationally recognized clinical programs. In line with the tripartite mission, Jon was steadfast in promoting educational initiatives for developing future leaders in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. I am very grateful for Jon’s divisional leadership, and excited to work with him in his new vice chair role to ensure that our department has a voice in the evolving nature of JHM.
I asked Dr. Nadia Hansel to become the interim director of the Division of Pulmonary, and I am pleased to announce she has accepted this new role. Nadia is an internationally recognized researcher in pulmonary disease. She has built a large and highly successful research program that focuses on air pollution and obstructive airway diseases. Her group has consistently promoted trainees, and has repeatedly won highly competitive center grant awards.
Please join me in congratulating Jon and Nadia in their new roles.
-Mark
Dr. Jonathan Orens received his medical degree magna cum laude and completed his internship, residency and chief residency in internal medicine at the University of Maryland. He trained in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan, joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, and came to Johns Hopkins in 1998. Jon is recognized internationally as an expert in the field of lung transplantation. His research interests are focused in lung transplant outcomes assessing risk factors for the development of chronic allograft rejection and primary graft dysfunction. His work includes developing new treatment strategies for these problems such as the use of the macrolide antibiotic azithromycin for the treatment of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome/chronic allograft rejection.
Jon has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 10 book chapters and several monographs in the field of lung transplantation, and he is the first author of the 2006 Update to the International Guidelines for the Selection of Lung Transplant Candidates for the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.
Dr. Nadia Hansel is a professor of medicine and associate director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Her areas of clinical expertise include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Nadia's research interests include understanding environmental determinants and sub-phenotypes of obstructive airway diseases. She is the director of the NIH-EPA funded BREATHE Center (Bridging Research, Lung Health and the Environment) and has over 150 peer-reviewed publications. She received the David M. Levine M Levine Excellence in Mentoring Award due to her commitment to training future physician-scientists. Nadia graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her master’s in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine. She completed her residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and performed a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Johns Hopkins. Nadia joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2004. She has served as the assistant director for research for the pulmonary division and serves as associate dean for research for Johns Hopkins Medicine and chair of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Scientific Advisory Board.
