UAB Names Thannickal as Head of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care

Victor J. Thannickal, M.D., has been named director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, in the Department of Medicine at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham). Thannickal joins UAB from the University of Michigan Health System effective July, 1.

March 5, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Victor J. Thannickal, M.D., has been named director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, in the Department of Medicine at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham). Thannickal joins UAB from the University of Michigan Health System effective July, 1. He is a renowned researcher and clinician in lung repair and regeneration and acute lung injury.    

Thannickal earned his medical degree at Oral Roberts University School of Medicine in 1987. He completed residency training in internal medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa, OK.

Following a clinical and research fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Thannickal remained on the faculty at Tufts before taking a position at the University of Michigan Medical School in 2001.

"We are excited to have Dr. Thannickal leading the division," said Edward Abraham, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine. "His knowledge and expertise will add a new dimension to our clinical, educational and research programs."

Thannickal's clinical practice focuses on idiopathic interstitial pneumonias and fibrotic lung diseases with an emphasis on acute lung injury and adult respiratory distress syndrome. His basic research interests include cellular/molecular mechanisms of lung repair and regeneration and biochemistry of reactive oxygen species and oxidative enzymes. He has published widely on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of lung repair and regeneration.   

"We want to create a culture and environment in which our tripartite mission...clinical care, research and education...is well integrated," said Thannickal. "This will allow us to more effectively translate basic discoveries from our research laboratories into the clinic, while training leaders in our discipline for the future."

The nationally-recognized UAB Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine provides a variety of comprehensive clinical treatment of respiratory, pulmonary vascular, and allergic disorders.

The division's many clinical research programs participate in research networks such as the National Institutes of Health-funded COPD and Pulmonary Fibrosis Networks, the American Lung Association's Asthma Clinical Research Network, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Therapeutics Development Network.