About Us

It is the the mission of the Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at the UCIe School of Medicine to provide compassionate, high-quality care to our patients; to nurture innovation in research, and to teach patients, families, medical trainees and ancillary health care providers about lung health, disease and treatment.

Division faculty members include nationally and internationally recognized experts in interventional pulmonary medicine and in the diagnosis and treatment of complex airway problems. Few programs in pulmonary at U.S. medical schools offer this same level of expertise and training.

Advanced care

Our highly skilled physicians at UCI Medical Center, Orange County's only university hospital, deliver state-of-the-science care to patients with pulmonary diseases or critical illness, including pleural diseases, malignant mesothelioma, emphysema, lung cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, asthma, chronic bronchitis and persistent cough. These specialists have extensive expertise in bedside critical care ultrasound screening and provide instruction in a range of didactic and simulation training programs for intensive care-based ultrasound testing.

Our pulmonary and critical care specialists also run the intensive care unit at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System and our fellows rotate through the intensive care unit at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. These settings give our fellows, residents and medical students valuable experience in treating a wide variety of patients and conditions.

Research emphasis

Division faculty members receive significant research funding, primarily from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' merit program, the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. Our faculty members have a number of clinical research projects relating to interventional pulmonary medicine as well as studies on the best methods for training physicians in interventional procedures.

The division also runs an active sleep lab program at the VA's center for research and clinical care. This gives our residents and fellows numerous opportunities to participate in advanced scientific research.

Research opportunities

In addition, division residents, fellows and medical students participate in translational research studies conducted by our faculty members with the UCI Health Beckman Laser Institute. This collaboration enables our pulmonary and critical care clinicians and researchers to conduct studies using the most advanced laser technologies to develop new techniques and therapies for a host of pulmonary and critical care disorders.

Above all, faculty members in the Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at the UCI School of Medicine are dedicated to providing compassionate and leading-edge care to our patients.

We Are Greater Together

Here at UCI Department of Medicine, we highly value diversity. Diversity is core to our ability to offer compassionate and culturally competent care in a variety of practice settings, to patients from all walks of life, addressing simple to complex healthcare needs, while working with others who embrace a broad variety of backgrounds, experience, and perspectives. We remain committed to advancing diversity, in its broadest sense, in our programs through recruitment, training, retention and mentoring. This, we believe, is vital to our ability to continue to achieve excellence in serving our richly diverse community through our discover, teach, and heal mission. If this collaborative, respectful, and inclusive approach speaks to you, I look forward to your selection of UCI Department of Medicine as your training program of choice.

-Alpesh Amin, MD, MBA, MACP, SFHM