Respiratory Medicine

Division members have active research programs in many subspecialty program areas. The interstitial Lung Disease group at South Health Campus is nationally recognized for collaborating with colleagues within and outside of Canada to prospectively monitor disease course and investigate treatment modalities. Similarly, Calgary TB specialists collaborate nationally and internationally to answer evolving questions about treatment and diagnosis. The sleep research group was started in 1984 by John Remmers, an MD physiologist who first described the mechanism of upper airway collapse in obstructive sleep apnea, went on to develop the first commercially available CPAP machine in North America and pioneered portable sleep apnea monitoring. There is still a very active sleep apnea research program in Calgary. The interventional pulmonologists have been at the forefront in introducing lung cancer screening into the province of Alberta as well as developing an emerging program in pleural disease. Basic research in the respiratory microbiome is a new focus of research  for the Division that focuses on patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) as well as non-CF bronchiectasis. The inflammatory airway disease group explore a wide range of investigations, partnering with PHD researchers in the Snyder Institute withing the Cumming School of Medicine looking at viral-mediated, airway inflammation exacerbations while others are involved with evaluating emerging biologic therapies for patients with severe airway inflammation who do not respond to conventional treatment.

Division members are also highly engaged in the undergraduate medical curriculum and play an active role in the internal medicine training program offering educational opportunities as well as mentoring. Calgary has a long-history of excellence in training pulmonary fellows. The two year training program is fully accredited by the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, and exposes trainees to a vast breadth of inpatient and outpatient experience across the many excellent clinical subspecialty areas that Calgary has to offer. The training program typically receives in excess of 30 applications for three positions that are available each year. The program strongly supports training electives outside of Calgary for its pulmonary fellows by offering competitive financial support (the Karen Rimmer award). If fellows wish to do advanced clinical / research training in a subspecialty area upon completion of their two year program, the Division also offers support for them through another competitive process (the Chris Mody award). Advanced training opportunities in Calgary are available for pulmonary fellows interested in the following subspecialty areas: sleep (with or without extra training in chronic ventilation); advanced airway inflammatory disease; interventional pulmonary medicine; or interstitial lung disease.    

Calgary has a fully integrated division across its four acute care sites which allows it to offer comprehensive care for patients across Southern Alberta. All sites offer general pulmonary consultation while subspecialty services are focused at specific sites. The South Health Campus (SHC) hosts the interstitial lung disease program and together with the Foothills participates in the interventional pulmonary medicine (IPM) program. The Rockyview General Hospital is the major centre for cardiopulmonary exercise testing and also runs an advanced airway inflammatory disease clinic.  The Peter Lougheed Centre (PLC) is home to the following subspecialty clinics: chronic ventilation and neuromuscular, nontuberculous mycobacteria, pulmonary hypertension, and cough. The PLC group also runs the TB Clinic which is located in close proximity to the PLC, The Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) is home to the Alberta Thoracic Oncology Program (ATOP) which is run by the IPM group and investigates patients with suspected lung cancer. In addition to ATOP the IPM group (including three respirologists from the SHC) runs the dyspnea clinic at the cancer centre (for patients with malignant pleural effusions) and is responsible for rigid bronchoscopy. The FMC also hosts the cough clinic which had its origin here, the bronchiectasis clinic, as well as an advanced airway inflammatory disease clinic in conjunction with the RGH. Two of Calgary’s respirologists work with Infectious Disease colleagues to run the cystic fibrosis clinic and inpatient service at the FMC. The sleep program is also based at FMC with a 6 bed PSG lab, a home sleep apnea testing program, and a multidisciplinary sleep clinic.