Thomas Ferkol, M.D., has been named director of the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics.
Ferkol, associate professor of pediatrics and of cell biology and physiology, will continue as director of the Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Program at the School of Medicine and as director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“I am truly honored by this opportunity,” Ferkol said. “The division has an excellent reputation in patient care, basic and clinical research and teaching. It is known to have two of the premier pediatric fellowship training programs in the nation.
“My goal is to take the division to the next level by expanding education and research efforts, especially with the advent of the Center for Pediatric Pulmonary Disease in the Children’s Discovery Institute.”
The Children’s Discovery Institute is a collaboration between St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the medical school to fund novel research initiatives to speed cures for children’s diseases.
“Tom Ferkol was recruited here in 2000 to lead our Cystic Fibrosis Center, which he has done with great distinction,” said Alan L. Schwartz, Ph.D., M.D., the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and head of Pediatrics.
“While the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine is already among the most robust nationwide, Tom’s exceptional leadership will bring it to a new level,” Schwartz said.
Ferkol’s research has focused on the development of cell and animal models to understand the pathogenesis of chronic infection, inflammation and deterioration in cystic fibrosis. Researchers in his laboratory also are investigating new agents and alternative strategies for drug delivery to the infected airway.
More recently, he has been actively involved in the National Institutes of Health-supported Genetic Disorders of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium, a clinical research network created to improve the diagnostic testing and treatment of rare airway diseases.
Ferkol has been principal investigator on several National Institutes of Health, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, March of Dimes and American Lung Association grants.
He has received numerous awards, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation LeRoy Matthew’s Physician-Scientist Award, and was an American Lung Association Edward Livingston Trudeau Scholar.
His research has appeared in numerous specialty journals, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Chest and the Journal of Pediatrics.