Program Overview Rush offers a three-year program for advanced training in pulmonary and critical care medicine beyond the residency level, with opportunities to extend it to four or five years. The program provides internists with excellent clinical training alongside outstanding clinical and/or bench research designed to shape future leaders in pulmonary and critical care medicine. The educational environment is one of the few in the country that encompass both a medical school and graduate programs in biological sciences. This creates an excellent setting where fellows, physicians, scientists and researchers interact, affording many superb educational opportunities for fellows in academic medicine. Among the areas of research and training opportunities are: Septic shock and acute lung injury Mechanisms of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) Immunologic changes during bacteremia and SIRS Cytokine profile of tumor-infiltrating leukocytes Identification of markers of lung transplant rejection Development of a rapid in-vitro PPD assay Cytokine production in patients with primary hypertension and in patients with hypercholesterolemia before and after therapy In-vitro testing before and after inhaled steroids Regulation of lung cytochrome P450 and its role in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury Transcriptional regulation of cytokines and surface receptors on monocytes in response to inflammatory stimuli Clinical investigation of new pharmaceutical agents (asthma, sleep medicine, sepsis, acute lung injury, ARDS, anemia of critical illness) Ozone induced airway hyperactivity and the role of neutral endopeptidase Development of cost-effective means of health care delivery to patients with pulmonary disorders Development of improved methods of medical education Markers of endothelial function in patients with lung injury Angiogenesis in patients with cancer Impact of metabolic influences on pulmonary function and ventilator management Short- and long-term effects of vasodilator therapy on exercise physiology