Principal Investigator
303.270.2234
LahmT@NJHealth.org
Education
MD - University of Heidelberg Medical School, Heidelberg, 2000
Internship, Anesthesiology and Thoracic Surgery - University of Heidelberg Medical School, Heidelberg, Germany, 2002
Residency, Internal Medicine - Indiana University School of Medicine, 2005
Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship - Indiana University School of Medicine, 2008
Background
Tim is a physician scientist in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at National Jewish Health with a focus on the study of sexual dimorphisms in lung vascular remodeling and right ventricular (RV) adaptation in pulmonary hypertension (PH). He serves as the Director of Pulmonary Vascular Biology at NJH. The overall goal of his research is to identify novel therapeutic interventions for PH-induced RV and lung vascular dysfunction. In particular, he is interested in gender differences in PH and the role of sex hormones in PH and RV failure. His laboratory is studying mechanisms of how sex hormones such as 17β-estradiol affect lung and RV endothelial cell homeostasis as well as cardiomyocyte function during PH and RV failure development. A specific focus is on deciphering how estrogen receptor alpha promotes resilience to maladaptive RV remodeling by regulating angiogenesis, contractile signaling and inflammatory processes. Other areas of interest in Tim’s lab include studies of hypoxia-induced lung vascular and RV remodeling, neurohormonal signaling in the RV, exercise effects on RV function, and novel PH phenotypes in the veteran population. Tim’s lab recently expanded its studies of sexually dimorphic lung diseases to study androgen signaling in asthma and to identify mechanisms of how androgens modulate airway epithelial cell function. Tim’s research is funded through the NIH and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is heavily involved with multiple professional societies and currently serves as the Chair of the American Thoracic Society Pulmonary Circulation Assembly. He is particularly proud of his mentoring record and feels fortunate that he is able to work with outstanding students, postdocs, fellows and junior faculty. Seeing these people develop their careers and exhibit personal growth is the most rewarding aspect of his career.
Tim’s clinical interest is in PH, RV failure and lymphangioleiomyomatosis - conditions that exhibit significant gender biases and that disproportionally affect women. He is also passionate about critical care medicine and provides care to critically ill patients in the intensive care unit.
When he is not writing about himself in the third person, Tim enjoys mountain biking, paddle boarding, sailing, skiing, hiking, camping, cooking, exploring microbreweries, and spending time with his wife, three kids, two dogs and cat (all of which are foodicisits).