About Us

If you have a lung condition like severe asthma or pulmonary hypertension, it’s important to seek expert care. Without proper treatment, your condition (and symptoms) can worsen — making it increasingly hard for you to breathe.

At VCU Health, you’ll find expert care for everything from lung infections and chronic lung diseases to lung cancer. With more than two dozen doctors specializing in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine, we can diagnose and treat any respiratory illness or injury.

Who Should See a Pulmonologist?

Our team can diagnose and treat people with a wide range of lung conditions. This includes patients who have developed respiratory symptoms for the first time and those who have lived with their condition for years.

• You should seek care from a pulmonologist (lung doctor) if you meet any of the following criteria:
• You have new wheezing or shortness of breath
• You have a cough that won’t go away
• You have unexplained respiratory symptoms — and a history of smoking
• The treatments you’ve received for your lung condition haven’t helped or have stopped working
• Your current treatments help your respiratory symptoms, but cause serious or unpleasant side effects
• Your symptoms get so bad you sometimes need emergency medical care or hospital care
• You’d like a second opinion about your diagnosis or treatment options

An early diagnosis is often key to early (and more effective) treatment. The sooner you start treatment, the better your chances of slowing your disease progression, curing your illness or controlling your symptoms.

Pulmonary Critical Care

Our pulmonary providers are also critical care specialists. They have the extra training (and experience) required to care for people who need advanced or lifesaving pulmonary care during a hospital stay.

This includes patients who:

• Need around-the-clock inpatient care because of the severity of their lung disease
• Are having trouble breathing on their own and require mechanical support
• Have serious illnesses, such as sepsis or liver failure, that have affected lung function

Our patients who need pulmonary critical care are monitored and treated in our Medical Respiratory ICU (MRICU).

Why Choose VCU Health for Lung Disease Treatment

As a provider of choice for patients and referring physicians throughout Virginia, we offer:

• Expert subspecialty care. Some pulmonologists, known as general pulmonologists, care for a wide range of lung problems. Others elect to focus in a single type of lung disease, such as interstitial lung disease. These pulmonologists are referred to as “subspecialists,” and are considered experts in those specific diseases. They offer a level of expertise and experience that’s hard to find.
• Disease-specific clinics. VCU Health is home to several subspecialty clinics that provide team-based care and support to adults with complex lung diseases. These clinics, which focus on conditions like sarcoidosis and cystic fibrosis, allow patients to see multiple providers in a single appointment.
• Nationally ranked pulmonary care. In 2021, we were named to U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals list. VCU Medical Center was ranked as High Performing in adult lung cancer surgery and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care.
• Innovative, cutting-edge pulmonary disease research. Our providers lead many research projects that range from basic, laboratory-based investigations to human clinical trials. By better understanding what causes pulmonary diseases, we hope to eventually prevent or cure them. And as our patient, you have access to clinical trials that let you try promising new diagnostic tests or treatments before they’re widely available.