Girish Sharma, MD
Director, Section of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine
Director, Rush Cystic Fibrosis Center

Dr. Sharma trained at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, in London, and completed his residency and pediatric pulmonary fellowship at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. Before coming to Rush, Dr. Sharma was assistant professor of pediatrics in the section of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Chicago, and associate director of the cystic fibrosis center. He has expertise in infant pulmonary function testing and fiberoptic bronchoscopy. His research interests include mechanisms of airway inflammation in cystic fibrosis, sinusitis in cystic fibrosis, and the use of infant lung function testing to track responses to early therapy in cystic fibrosis lung disease.

John Lloyd-Still, MD
Co-Director, Rush Cystic Fibrosis Center
Associate Director, Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

Dr. Lloyd-Still was a fellow of the National Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston. There he worked under the direction of Dr. Harry Shwachman, one of the founders of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. For 19 years, he was director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center and the division head of gastroenterology at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. In addition, as a member of the Center Committee of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for four years, he visited and evaluated cystic fibrosis center throughout the United States. He authored the first Textbook of Cystic Fibrosis and has written more than one hundred publications, half of which deal directly with cystic fibrosis, his primary research interest. The Chicago Pediatric Society honored him with the Brenneman Award, and Chicago Magazine listed him as one of the area’s top cystic fibrosis doctors.

Robert Balk, MD
Director, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine
Director, Adult Program, Rush Cystic Fibrosis Center

Dr. Balk received his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Affiliated Hospitals in Kansas City, and his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medicine Sciences in Little Rock. He is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care medicine. A professor of medicine, he came to Rush in 1985. Among his numerous awards and honors, Dr. Balk was president of the Chicago Thoracic Society and has been listed in several editions of Best Doctors in America and How to Find the Best Doctor: Chicago Metro Region. Dr. Balk has been on the editorial board for eight different scientific publications and a manuscript referee for 11 journals. He has lectured or been a visiting professor in Brazil, Belgium, Japan and Greece, as well as at locations throughout the United States. His research interests are primarily in the mechanisms and treatment of acute lung injury, sepsis, septic shock and multiple organ dysfunction/failure.

Other members of the team:

• Kenneth Boyer, MD, Chairman, Department of Pediatrics; Pediatric Infectious Diseases
• James B. McAuley, MD, Director, Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
• Kathy Kosmala, RN, Pediatric Clinical Nurse Coordinator
• Suzanne Cortez, RN, Pediatric Clinical Nurse
• Ellen Elpern, RN, Adult Clinical Nurse Coordinator 
• Anita Martino, RD, Clinical Nutritionist
• Carolyn Utech, LCSW, Adult and Pediatric Centers Coordinator and Clinical Social Worker
• Michael Cooper, CRT, Respiratory Therapist
• Susan Hauptman, CRT, Respiratory Therapist
• Leslie Geibel, PhD, Genetics Health Specialist
• Anne Koehler and Rosa Figueroa, Office Support Staff