Author Archives: ecroe

In a new paper published in Science, researchers propose treating health data as essential national infrastructure, balancing patient empowerment, privacy, innovation, and public good. Melissa Haendel, PhD, Marsico Lung Institute member and the Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of genetics, was first author on the paper. Read the full story...

Marsico Lung Institute faculty, postdoc, student, and collaborator publications for February 2026 included papers appearing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (with a cover image by Marsico’s Stephen Schworer, MD, PhD, et al), Journal of Neuroinflammation, and Annals of the American Thoracic Society. Check out the...

Melissa Haendel, PhD, FACMI, and collaborators at the Monarch Initiative are helping to improve the diagnostic odyssey for rare disease patients by launching the world’s first standardized rare disease coding tool, which will draw on data from around the world to more quickly diagnose rare diseases. Read the full article...

A newly established lectureship, the Department of Pediatrics Dr. Margaret W. Leigh Lectureship, will honor the legacy of Margaret “Magee” W. Leigh, MD, a now-retired physician in the UNC Division of Pediatric Pulmonology and a highly respected leader in the field. The new lectureship will bring world-renowned experts to UNC to educate...

A multidisciplinary team of UNC researchers led by Kenneth Olivier, MD, MPH, and Richard C. Boucher, MD, has received ~$7.3M from NHLBI to lead the Rare Bronchiectatic Diseases Consortium, advancing research on four rare lung diseases that cause progressive bronchiectasis. The effort builds on UNC’s national leadership and aims to...

Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have developed a tool that can identify airway mucus abnormalities in patients with chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or asthma before symptoms start. The study, led by Mehmet Kesimer, PhD, is described in a new paper published in NEJM Evidence. Read...

Marsico Lung Institute faculty, postdoc, student, and collaborator publications for December 2025 and January 2026 included papers appearing in Nucleic Acids Research, European Respiratory Journal, and GigaScience. Check out the full list below: Leigh MW, Shapiro AJ, Chawla KK, Hazucha MJ, Brown DE, Lin FC, Jiang L, Carson JL, Davis SD,...

Brian Conlon, PhD, and microbiologists from his lab in the UNC School of Medicine point to a specific protein that interferes with common antibiotics and their abilities to completely kill off bacteria. Read the full story on the UNC Health Newsroom website here: https://news.unchealthcare.org/2026/01/unc-research-finds-immune-system-protein-drives-antibiotic-tolerance/ This study is also featured in articles...

Neil Alexis, PhD, was consulted for an article in NPR on the link between eating fish and relief for the effects of asthma, particularly for kids in polluted environments. The article, “Eating Fish May Help City Kids With Asthma Breathe Better,” can be read on NPR’s website here: https://www.nhpr.org/2019-03-30/eating-fish-may-help-city-kids-with-asthma-breathe-better

Marsico Lung Institute faculty, postdoc, student, and collaborator publications for November 2025 (and a couple of strays from October) included papers appearing in Pharmacological Reviews, Nature Microbiology, and the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Check out the full list below: Ankrum AL, Caceres SM, Torsell M, Epperson E, Calado...