Fellowship Faculty

Faculty in pulmonary medicine

Twenty-five faculty members participate in our training program as research preceptors. All have primary appointments in either the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine or the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Consistent with the multidisciplinary nature of this program, the faculty represents a wide spectrum of scientific interests, utilizing a variety of technologies and approaches, including molecular and cell biology, physiology, vascular biology, environmental sciences, engineering, proteomics, genomics, genetic epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy and clinical trials. Our faculty members participate in our training program as clinical preceptors, including board-certified pediatric pulmonologists.

Current pediatric pulmonary faculty: Our division includes several faculty members, many of whom are board certified in pediatric pulmonology and three of whom are board certified in sleep medicine. Currently, there is active research within the division involving cystic fibrosis, asthma, sleep disorders, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, congenital diaphragmatic hernias, dysphagia, global health and sickle cell disease.

Maureen Lefton‐Greif, Ph.D., CCCSLP, BCSS, professor
Maureen Lefton‐Greif’s clinical work, teaching and research focus on feeding/swallowing development and the evaluation and management of its disorders. Her work involves identification of swallowing disorders (dysphagia) in children who have not been previously recognized as having swallowing impairments to facilitate prompt interventions and thereby improve their care. She is developing a tool to standardize and quantify fluoroscopic images from bottle‐fed children with dysphagia.

Peter Mogayzel Jr., M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., professor
Peter Mogayzel is director of the Eudowood Division of Pediatric Respiratory Sciences and director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center. His clinical work, teaching and research focuses on the treatment of children with cystic fibrosis. His research interests include the regulatory properties of the CFTR gene, mucociliary clearance and development of new therapeutics for cystic fibrosis. He is the co‐director of the Cystic Fibrosis Therapeutics Development Center at Johns Hopkins.

J. Michael Collaco, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., M.B.A., Ph.D., associate professor
Michael Collaco’s clinical specialty includes chronic lung disease of premature infants, lung disease in medically complex patients including ventilators and tracheostomies, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and aerodigestive disorders. His research focuses on the epidemiology of environmental risk factors for chronic pediatric respiratory diseases, particularly cystic fibrosis and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, funded through private foundations and institutional grants. He is the fellowship director and principal investigator on the division’s T32 grant.

Eric McCollum, M.D., associate professor
Eric McCollum’s research focuses on developing approaches to optimize pulmonary care for children in low-resource settings. The primary focus of his K01‐supported clinical research is the diagnosis of pneumonia in children in Africa and Bangladesh. He is also supported by the Gates Foundation to conduct pilot studies of bubble CPAP devices in premature infants in Malawi, Africa. Dr. McCollum is director of the Global Program in Pediatric Respiratory Health.

Laura Sterni, M.D., associate professor
Laura Sterni is director of the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Sleep Center, a multispecialty pediatric sleep center that provides state-of-the-art care to the children of Maryland and beyond. Dr. Sterni is an expert on the management of children requiring chronic home ventilator support. She chaired the expert panel that created the American Thoracic Society clinical practice guideline addressing the care of these complex patients and has edited a book on this topic, Caring for the Ventilator Dependent Child: A Clinical Guide.

M. Cecilia Melendres, M.D., assistant professor
Cecilia Melendres has an interest in children at high risk for persistent obstructive sleep apnea following surgical therapy, including those with Down syndrome, obesity and neuromuscular disorders. She is a sleep medicine physician and also sees patients with neuromuscular disorders. She is currently involved in a multicenter retrospective and prospective study on early onset narcolepsy, which is investigating the recent increase in cases of narcolepsy, its seasonal variation and the role of infection.

Shruti Paranjape, M.D., assistant professor
Shruti Paranjape’s clinical and research work incorporate independent and collaborative efforts to study sleep, respiratory mechanics and energy expenditure in children and young adults with cystic fibrosis. Her sleep research is currently supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the American Sleep Medicine Foundation and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She is a co‐investigator for an NIH‐supported multicenter cystic fibrosis liver disease study and serves as the only pediatric pulmonologist on the study’s steering committee.

S. Christy Sadreameli, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor
Christy Sadreameli is a K23 scholar whose clinical and research focus is on the pulmonary complications of sickle cell disease. She is the principal investigator for the Sickle Cell Disease and Environmental Influences on Lung Functionstudy, which examines the relationship between indoor environmental exposures and pulmonary complications, including asthma and acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease. In addition, she has an interest in interstitial lung disease and is site principal investigator for the ChILD Registry. She participates in the aerodigestive clinic, is a volunteer media spokesperson for the American Lung Association and chair of the Pediatric Advocacy Subcommittee for the American Thoracic Society.

Lori Vanscoy, M.D., assistant professor
Lori Vanscoy’s clinical and research focus is on improving outcomes in cystic fibrosis through machine learning and precision medicine approaches to cystic fibrosis care. Her previous research focused on the heritability of cystic fibrosis lung disease. She is the associate program director.