In 2005, Paul E. Marik, MD, was recruited from the University of Pittsburgh by the new Chair of Medicine, Art Feldman, to largely develop medical critical care at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He, as an intensivist with a prolific CV, was the Director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine until 2008.
Gregory C. Kane, MD (JMC ’90), a highly respected clinician educator (Director of the Residency Program for over 15 years) assumed the position of Acting Director until the appointment of Dr. Mani Kavuru in 2010. Dr. Kavuru joined the University in September 2010, after a tenure as Division Director for four years at East Carolina University in NC. Dr. Kavuru is a clinician scientist who trained at the Cleveland Clinic and was on faculty there for 14 years (1991-2005). He established a reputation in several lung disorders including asthma, sarcoidosis and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. He has an extensive track record of grant funding, clinical trials and publications.
In 2013, Dr. Raymond Penn, a nationally recognized scientist focusing on airways disease and asthma, was recruited to the Department of Medicine to lead the Center for Translational Medicine. The basic science research scope within the department has grown under his leadership.
The Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute – 2018
By the early 2000s, Thomas Jefferson University had been recognized as a strong contributor to the understanding of lung disease and as an outstanding place to train in pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine. During that time, Thomas Jefferson University began an impressive growth phase having acquired 14 hospitals and several practices, thereby expanding opportunities for patient care, research and educational experiences.
In 2017, the Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute was established through a partnership between Jefferson Health (Philadelphia) and National Jewish Health (Denver) to develop the top respiratory program in the region. Together with Mount Sinai in New York, this stellar academic triad was developed to revolutionize pulmonary and critical care medicine, an initiative that brought much energy to the program. In early 2018, Dr. Jesse Roman, a renowned pulmonologist and physician-scientist, was recruited to carry out the goals of the Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute. As its founding CEO, Division Chief, and Fellowship Program Director, Dr. Roman recruited new faculty, attracted new staff, expanded the pulmonary & critical care-training program, and established a new independent critical care fellowship. In addition, he acquired new clinical space and established programs of excellence in lung cancer, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, interventional pulmonology, interstitial lung disease, sarcoidosis, cystic fibrosis, and COPD. He also established a robust clinical trials program and enhanced the translational science component of the division. With strong collaborators in Thoracic Surgery, Pathology, Radiology, Rheumatology, Cardiology and other outstanding programs, the Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute was set to deliver world-class patient care, while engaging in clinical trials and basic science research. Finally, in his role as Respiratory Service Line Leader, Dr. Roman began the process of standardization of pulmonary and critical care medicine throughout Jefferson Health.
Other notables
Chevalier Jackson (JMC class of 1886, lived 1865-1958) was one of the foremost figures responsible for developing esophagoscopy and laryngobronchoscopy. In his Philadelphia bronchoscope clinic, he trained numerous students and physicians in his techniques. Jackson’s career at Thomas Jefferson University ended with his mandatory retirement in 1930 at the age of 65.
Another notable contributor is John H. Gibbon, who opened a new era in the history of cardiac surgery by developing the first heart-lung machine and performing the first successful surgery with it on May 6, 1953. A fifth generation physician, John H. Gibbon was born in Philadelphia in 1903. Gibbon received his MD from Jefferson Medical College in 1927 and completed his internship at Pennsylvania Hospital in 1929. It was during his research fellowship at Harvard in the early 1930s that Gibbon initially conceived the idea of an apparatus that could temporarily assume the functions of a patient's heart and lungs. Dr. Gibbon also made significant contributions related to lung cancer surgery. In 1990, Jefferson paid Gibbon a posthumous honor by renaming the new Thomas Jefferson University Hospital the Gibbon Building, located at 10th and Chestnut.