Treating lung disease in many cases amounts to just managing the symptoms. But by harnessing the power of clinical research, doctors can significantly change how serious lung conditions are treated. That’s what the Temple Lung Center does all day, every day. And it makes a true difference for patients.
Combining a robust research program with extensive clinical expertise, through a large inventory of clinical trials, puts patients at the forefront of lung disease treatment.
Dr. Victor Kim, Professor of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, collaborates with colleagues throughout the country and the world to bring the latest advances in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, and other serious lung conditions to patients.
Q: What makes the Temple Lung Center such a powerhouse for pulmonary research?
Dr. Kim: With the level of expertise that we have at the Temple Lung Center, there is a great breadth of research available that we can perform. Our extensive clinical experience is crucial. This helps develop clinical questions for various things that we’re investigating, both on a clinical and bench resource level.
And we have a great deal of funding from the National Institutes of Health and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to perform that research on a local and international level.
Q: How is the Temple Lung Center contributing to pulmonary research on a global scale?
Dr. Kim: For pulmonary research, Temple is part of an elite cohort of institutions that are able to perform research on a high level, both clinical and basic science. For diseases such as COPD and asthma, we have at least 10 to 15 trials in each disease category, which is quite significant.
We are part of several multicenter consortiums that are involved in research with COPD, as well as lung transplant, sarcoidosis, asthma and sleep apnea. We are part of an elite group of academic medical centers collaborating on this important research.