Sally Wenzel, M.D., a top expert in the diagnosis and management of asthma, is available to discuss the disease as well as the issues surrounding it, including its prevalence in different population and age groups, risk factors, causes, diagnosis, traditional and emerging therapies, and the future implications of asthma on the world scene.
Dr. Wenzel is a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh's Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine and director of the university's Asthma Institute. As chair of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) workshop on severe asthma, she helped develop the international consensus definition of severe asthma. She is internationally recognized for her clinical research aimed at understanding the complexities of asthma as well as her work in other aspects of the disease.
“More than 230 million people suffer from asthma worldwide, including millions of children,” Dr. Wenzel notes. “As a disease, one of the most interesting things about asthma is that it is note relegated only to high-income or low-income populations, but affects disparate populations all over the world. “The prevalence of the disease is also increasing worldwide, and it's creating a huge burden in terms of healthcare costs just to manage the disease symptoms,” she adds. “Even with treatment, asthma can take a significant toll on patients' quality of life, especially those who suffer from the most severe forms of the disease or those in areas where treatment or medical resources are inadequate.”In addition to serving as chair of the ATS asthma workshop, Dr. Wenzel served as deputy editor for the society's flagship journal, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM), was Assembly Chair for the ATS section on Allergy, Immunology and Inflammation, chaired the ATS International Conference Committee, and served on the Pulmonary–Allergy Advisory Committee to the FDA. She also serves as a primary investigator for the NHLBI/NIH Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP) network.
Dr. Wenzel earned her medical degree at the University of Florida, completing her internal medicine residency at Wake Forest University and her fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University.She has been the recipient of several awards, including the American Thoracic Society 2010 Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishment and the Elizabeth Rich Award for her role in promoting women in science.
Dr. Wenzel has been interviewed extensively by regional, national and international media and has published numerous articles including:
Wenzel SE, Vitari CA, Shende M, Strollo DC, Larkin A, Yousem SA. Asthmatic Granulomatosis: A Novel Disease with Asthmatic and Granulomatous Features. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2012 Jul;186 501-507PMID: 22773731
Yamamoto M, Tochino Y, Chibana K, Trudeau JB, Holguin F, Wenzel SE. Nitric oxide and related enzymes in asthma: relation to severity, enzyme function and inflammation. Clin Exp Allergy. 2012 May;42(5):760-8. PMID: 22092728
Wenzel SE. Asthma phenotypes: Evolution from clinical to molecular approaches. Nat Med. 2012 May 4; 18(5):716-25. PMID: 22561835
Zhao J, O'Donnell VB, Balzar S, St Croix CM, Trudeau JB, Wenzel SE. 15-Lipoxygenase 1 interacts with phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein to regulate MAPK signaling in human airway epithelial cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. E-pub 2011 Aug. PMID: 21831839
Gamble C, Talbott E, Youk A, Holguin F, Pitt B, Silveira L, Bleecker E, Busse W, Calhoun W, Castro M, Chung KF, Erzurum S, Israel E, Wenzel SE. Racial differences in biologic predictors of severe asthma: data from the Severe Asthma Research Program. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Nov 2. PMID: 21051082
Balzar S, Fajt M, Comhair S, Erzurum S, Bleecker E, Busse W, Castro M, Gaston B, Israel E, Schwartz LB, Curran-Everett D, Moore C, Wenzel SE. Phenotype, location and activation of mast cells in severe asthma. Data from the Severe Asthma Research Program. E-Pub Sept 2, 2010 Am J Resp Crit Care Med. PMID: 20813890
Busacker A, Newell J Jr., Keefe T, Hoffman E, Granroth J, Castro M, Fain S, Wenzel SE. A multivariate analysis of risk factors for the air-trapping asthmatic phenotype as measured by quantitative CT analysis. Chest. 2009 Jan; 135(1):48-56. Epub.
Wenzel SE, Wilbraham D, Fuller R, Getz EB, Longphre M. Effect of an interleukin-4 variant on late phase asthmatic response to allergen challenge in asthmatic patients: results of two phase 2a studies. Lancet. 2007 Oct 20; 370(9596):1396-8. PMID: 17950857
Wenzel SE, Balzar S, Ampleford E, Hawkins GA, Busse WW, Calhoun WJ, Castro M, Chung KF, Erzurum S, Gaston B, Israel E, Teague WG, Curran-Everett D, Meyers DA, Bleecker ER. IL-4R(alpha) Mutations are Associated with Asthma Exacerbations and Mast Cells/IgE Expression. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2007; 175: 570-576. PMID: 17170387
Moore WC, Bleecker ER, Curran-Everett D, Erzurum SC, Ameredes BT, Bacharier L, Calhoun WJ, Castro M, Chung KF, Clark MP, Dweik RA, Fitzpatrick AM, Gaston B, Hew M, Hussain I, Jarjour NN, Israel E, Levy BD, Murphy JR, Peters SP, Teague WG, Meyers DA, Busse WW, Wenzel SE; for the NHLBI’s Severe Asthma Research Program. Characterization of the severe asthma phenotype by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Severe Asthma Research Program J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007; Feb;119(2):405-413 Dr. Wenzel can be reached at 412-692-2139 or .
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