Sol Permutt

The Solbert Permutt Memorial Lectureship was established in 2014 to honor the life and work of Solbert Permutt, who made tremendous contributions to the science of respiratory and circulatory health and disease. It also honors a man who was a mentor and inspiration to generations of scientists and physicians who were fortunate enough to know him.

Research in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Circulation

Solbert (Sol to his professional colleagues; Bert to his family) Permutt’s scientific contributions included a model of expiratory flow limitation that allows a comprehensive and clinically useful understanding of how airflow is affected in health and disease. He used the same unifying model to clarify mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnea, limited blood flow during CPR, and venous return to the right heart. He was the first to define zones in the lung by relationships among arterial, alveolar, and venous pressures. He demonstrated the potential lung-protective effects of positive end-expiratory pressure and elucidated mechanisms of cardiopulmonary interactions. He advanced the use of spirometry for epidemiologic investigation, diagnosis, and management of lung disease. He developed a comprehensive model that integrated the complicated determinants of cardiac output and venous return. He clarified the pathophysiology of the acute asthmatic attack. The list goes on and on. These contributions flowed readily from the laboratory to the bedside and have helped physicians to understand their patients’ problems and design rational, physiologic approaches to management.

Despite Sol’s contributions and those of his colleagues and mentees, respiratory disease continues to cause major disabilities and death in the United States and throughout the world. Therefore, research in respiratory disease continues as one of the major efforts at Johns Hopkins. Training of post-doctoral fellows and graduate students in research disciplines is also critical for continued progress towards reducing and eliminating respiratory disease.

The Solbert Permutt Lectureship

The Solbert Permutt Lecture will promote interaction and exchange of ideas among scientists, clinicians, and educators involved in respiratory disease.

A small faculty committee will be appointed annually to select and invite a senior scientist to deliver the Permutt Lecture to the community of scientists, physicians, and students. The committee will be appointed by the Director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, to represent the breadth of research within the community of respiratory and circulatory research. 

The visiting lecturer will also spend time in residence at the University, to have direct and personal interactions with students, fellows, and faculty. This experience will provide unique opportunities for young scientists to meet and learn from a leader in the field and to gain new insights into their own scientific work. The lecture and interaction with faculty and students will focus scientific attention to the research questions and knowledge base in pulmonary science. 

Endowment for the Solbert Permutt Lectureship

The lectureship fund provides a yearly income sufficient to invite a leading scientist to visit the University for 2 days of visits with faculty, fellows, and graduate students, and which will feature a formal lecture. The first Solbert Permutt lecture was given in April 2015.

Solbert Permutt Lecturers

• 2015: James C Hogg, MD, PhD. - Univ of British Columbia
• 2016: Luciano Gattinoni, MD - FRCP  University of Milan
• 2017: Jeffrey M Drazen, MD - Editor in Chief, New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard University
• 2018: Marlene Rabinovitch - Stanford University School of Medicine
• 2019: Irina Petrache, MD - University of Colorado
• 2021: Paul Schumacker, PhD - Northwestern University School of Medicine
• 2022: Fernando Martinez, MD, MS - Weill Cornell Medical College
• 2023: David B Jacoby, MD - Oregon Health and Science University
• 2025: Sharon Rounds, MD - Brown University