Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician-Scientist Mary Elizabeth Richert Joins National Jewish Health


DENVER - National Jewish Health has welcomed Mary Elizabeth “Mimi” Richert, MD, a pulmonary and critical care physician-scientist whose research focuses on identifying biomarkers of lung injury and disease progression in chronic lung diseases. Dr. Richert is a pulmonary medicine physician in the Division of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences in the Department of Medicine. She specializes in the treatment of sarcoidosis and other complex lung conditions. Dr. Richert sees patients at the National Jewish Health main campus in Denver.

Dr. Richert’s research focuses on understanding pulmonary disease progression by integrating clinical phenotyping with advanced molecular approaches to better understand lung injury, predict exacerbations and monitor disease progression in conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and sarcoidosis. Her work aims to identify biological signals that can help predict disease worsening and support more personalized treatment strategies.

Dr. Richert completed a pulmonary fellowship at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, where she trained within the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine. She also completed a critical care medicine fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Her current research examines the molecular mechanisms underlying disease progression in pulmonary sarcoidosis. Supported by an Ann Theodore Foundation Learning Opportunities in Medicine and Sarcoidosis (ATF-LOMAS) award, she is studying how gene expression patterns in blood relate to disease activity and progression in fibrotic pulmonary sarcoidosis. She also serves as a coinvestigator for a study supported by the Ann Theodore Foundation Breakthrough Sarcoidosis Initiative at the Milken Institute examining how cell-free DNA can help define organ involvement and disease severity in sarcoidosis.

Dr. Richert has published research in several peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and has presented her work at national conferences, such as the American Thoracic Society International Conference and the American College of Chest Physicians Annual Meeting.

She earned her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Richert also holds a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and is currently pursuing a Master of Health Sciences in clinical research at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Dr. Richert is board-certified in internal medicine, critical care medicine and pulmonary disease by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Thoracic Society and the World Association for Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Disorders.
 

National Jewish Health is the leading respiratory hospital in the nation delivering excellence in multispecialty care and world class research. Founded in 1899 as a nonprofit hospital, National Jewish Health today is the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to groundbreaking medical research and treatment of children and adults with respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders. Patients and families come to National Jewish Health from around the world to receive cutting-edge, comprehensive, coordinated care. To learn more, visit njhealth.org or the media resources page.


We have many faculty members, from bench scientists to clinicians, who can speak on almost any aspect of respiratory, immune, cardiac and gastrointestinal disease as well as lung cancer and basic immunology.

Our team is available to arrange interviews, discuss events and story ideas.

Make an Appointment