Faculty

A number of board-certified pulmonary, critical care, and sleep specialists serve as faculty in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Hyperbaric, and Sleep Medicine, with academic appointments in the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine. Several faculty members have additional appointments in Department of Allied Health Professions, Basic Sciences, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, or Psychiatry.  We also have successful collaborations with Division of Regenerative Medicine and Center for Perinatal Biology on translational research projects.

H. Bryant Nguyen, MD, MS, MBA

Division Head

Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Professor of Emergency Medicine and Basic Sciences, School of Medicine

Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Medicine

Medical Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Director, Advanced Lung Disease Center

Research and Academic Interests: Severe sepsis, cardiac arrest, acute kidney injury, ARDS, hemodynamic monitoring, biomarkers discovery, percutaneous tracheostomy, patient-centered care, medical informatics, data analytics, leadership

James D. Anholm, MD, FCCP

Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Associate Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program

Research and Academic Interests: Pulmonary hypertension, high altitude medicine, exercise physiology

Khazenay Bakhsh, DO

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Research and Academic Interests: Pulmonary Hypertension, Obstructive Airway Diseases, Sleep disorders, medical education

Twinkle Chandak MD, FCCP

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Pulmonary Hypertension, Obstructive Airway Diseases, medical education

Ara A. Chrissian, MD, FCCP

Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Medical Director, Adult Bronchoscopy and Interventional Pulmonology, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Advanced diagnostic bronchoscopy and interventional pulmonology, procedural sedation, interstitial lung disease, thoracic oncology, critical care and lung ultrasound, percutaneous tracheostomy, medical education

David M. Chooljian, MD, JD

Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Medical Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Chair, Ethics Consultation Service, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Attending Physician, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Research and Academic Interests: Medical ethics, advanced lung disease, interventional/advanced diagnostic pulmonology

Nagamani Dandamudi, MD, FCCP

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Deputy Chief of Staff, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Medical Director, Sleep Center, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Research and Academic Interests: Sleep disorders

Vi A. Dinh, MD

Professor of Medicine and Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine

Director, Critical Care Ultrasound, Department of Medicine

Director, Ultrasound in Medical Education, School of Medicine

Director, Ultrasound Fellowship Program, Department of Emergency Medicine

Research and Academic Interests: Critical care and emergency ultrasound, percutaneous tracheostomy

Angela Do, MMS, PA-C

Instructor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Physician Associate, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Advanced minimally invasive pleural and airway procedures

Ramiz Fargo, MD, FCCP

Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program

Medical Director, Sleep Disorders Center, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Vascular access, pulmonary hypertension, sleep disorders, bronchoscopy

Naureen Farook, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Research and Academic Interests: Critical Care and Emergency Medicine

Philip M. Gold, MD, MACP, FCCP

Emeritus Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Vice-Chair of Humanities, Department of Medicine

Research and Academic Interests: Obstructive lung disease, exercise physiology, humanities in medicine, history of medicine

Elliot Ho, DO

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Director, Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests:Interventional Pulmonology, ultrasound, education

Niranjan Jeganathan, MD, MS

Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Director, Pulmonary Faculty Medical Ambulatory Clinic

Director, Interstitial Lung Disease Program

Medical Director, Blood Gas Laboratory, Loma Linda University Medical Center and East Campus

Associate Medical Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Sepsis,molecular mechanisms of lung diseases,mechanical ventilation,simulation, pulmonary pathophysiology,hemodynamics

Walter Klein, MD, FCCP

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care, Riverside University Health System

Research and Academic Interests: Ultrasound, vascular access, percutaneous tracheostomy

Robert Liu, PA-C, MPA

Instructor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Physician Associate, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Ambulatory pulmonary diseases

Kanwaljeet Maken, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Medical Director, Hyperbaric Medicine, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Sleep disorders, medical education

Aarti (Nikki) Mittal, DO

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, Riverside University Health System

Research and Academic Interests: ARDS, cardiothoracic critical care

Dafne Moretta, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Associate Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program

Research and Academic Interests: Pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary vascular physiology, tuberculosis, post-ICU syndrome care, ARDS, quality improvement in bronchoscopy

Elaine Nguyen, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, Riverside University Health System

Research and Academic Interests: Education, critical care

Sunitha Nune, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Sleep disorders

Kerstyn A. O'Brien, MSPAS, PA-C

Instructor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Physician Associate, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Interventional pulmonology

Wei Shen, MD, FCCP

Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Research and Academic Interests: Interventional pulmonology, lung volume reduction for emphysema, sleep physiology, airway resistance in obese patients, ventilator patient interaction in critical care, airway management, critical care echocardiogram, COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, nosocomial pneumonia, inflammatory cytokines

N. Lennard Specht, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Assistant Professor of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, School of Allied Health Professions

Associate Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program

Medical Director, Pulmonary Function Laboratories, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Medical Director, Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Respiratory Care Program, School of Allied Health Professions

Research and Academic Interests: Obstructive lung disease, exercise physiology, neuromuscular disease

Prajan Subedi, MBBS

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Research and Academic Interests: Sleep disorders, pulmonary physiology at high altitude

Alexander O. Sy, MD, MBA, MSL 

Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System

Research and Academic Interests: Sleep disorders, medical education

Laren Tan, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Chair, Department of Medicine

Assistant Dean, Continuing Medical Education, School of Medicine

Research and Academic Interests: Asthma, obstructive lung disease, hyperbaric medicine, praying for the critically ill patient

Shahriyar Tavakoli, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Critical care

Suman Thapamagar, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Associate Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program

Research and Academic Interests: Non-invasive mechanical ventilation, sleep disorders, pulmonary rehabilitation, pulmonary physiology at high altitude, applied statistics

Destry Washburn, DO

Assistant Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, Riverside University Health System

Research and Academic Interests: Improvements in teaching students and residents in the critical care setting, antibiotic stewardship in the ICU, investigation and improvement in the treatment of sepsis and septic shock, use of cardiac and respiratory ultrasound in the ICU

Mark Welch, DO

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Sleep disorders

Timothy Wong, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Family Medicine, School of Medicine

Attending Physician, Loma Linda University Medical Center

Research and Academic Interests: Sleep disordered breathing and its impact on health