Leading Lung Disease Epidemiologist Named Chief of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

Juan Carlos Celedón, M.D., Dr.P.H., internationally recognized for his research into genetic and environmental factors that influence lung disease including asthma and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, has been appointed chief of the Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Dr. Celedón also is a professor in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and in the Department of Human Genetics in the Graduate School of Public Health, both at the University of Pittsburgh.

Prior to joining Children’s Hospital, Dr. Celedón was an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. His research program had been based at Channing Laboratory of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“Dr. Celedón is one of the leading experts in the epidemiology of lung disease, and we believe his important research will significantly advance our understanding of the genetic epidemiology of childhood lung and allergic diseases,” said David H. Perlmutter, M.D., physician-in-chief and scientific director at Children’s Hospital, and the Vira I. Heinz Professor and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Celedón completed medical school at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana School of Medicine in his native Colombia. He trained in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in New York City and in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Brown University School of Medicine. In 1999, he became a research fellow/instructor at Channing Laboratory. There he developed a research program into the epidemiology of lung disease.

Since that time, his research has focused on the effects genetic variants, environmental exposures and behavioral factors have—working independently and together—on the origin and development of lung disease.

Dr. Celedón currently has two grants from the National Institutes of Health and is a renowned teacher and mentor. He served as the director of education for the Center for Genomic Medicine and as the director of the Human Genetics Research Unit of the Center for Clinical Investigation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also was the director of the genetics research curriculum for the Scholars in Clinical Science program at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Celedón received the Young Mentor Award (2005) and, more recently, the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award (2010), the first time a faculty member has been recognized with both awards.

Dr. Celedón also is on the editorial boards of an authoritative journal, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. In 2010, he was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.