Defining Pathways in COPD Patient Oriented Research

Dr. Han is a physician scientist with a focus in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient-oriented research (POR). This renewal application will continue to secure her with protected time to focus on mentoring and career development. Dr. Han’s career goal is to continue developing a COPD POR program to better understand disease heterogeneity implicit to this disease so that ultimately disease modifying therapies can be developed. Protected time from this award would allow her to take additional coursework to acquire new analytic and mentoring skills. Her mentoring objectives under this award will be to retain protected time to continue to train residents, fellows, graduate students and junior faculty, focusing in particular on junior investigators. Dr. Han will continue to tailor mentoring plans to each trainee, consisting of one-on-one mentoring sessions, collaboration with statisticians and formal educational opportunities in analytic methods and the responsible conduct of research. The resources available at the University of Michigan (UM) including the UM Pulmonary Division Multidisciplinary Training Grant and the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research/Clinical & Translational Science Award provide an ideal infrastructure for POR training. Dr. Han’s scientific aims for this proposal will leverage several newly funded projects to provide training opportunities for junior investigators. Emerging data suggest that COPD begins much earlier in life than previously appreciated. CT analytic techniques (Parametric Response Mapping, PRM) developed at UM can identify small airway disease, believed to be the precursor lesion to emphysema. Dr. Han is Co-PI of an extension to the SPIROMICS cohort (HL144718) that is recruiting 30-55 year-old current and former smokers either at risk for COPD or with mild to moderate established COPD. In Aim 1, we will use these data in early COPD to determine whether PRM defined small airways disease can be identified in such individuals to predict disease progression. The second specific aim of this proposal will use data generated by R01 (HL150023) for which Dr. Han is contact PI. In Aim 2, longitudinal PRM analyses in the COPDGene cohort will be performed to determine 10-year longitudinal trajectories for evolution of small airways disease and emphysema among at risk current and former smokers aged 40-80, with and without COPD. Together these analyses provide data on a novel imaging biomarker across the lifespan and disease severity spectrum and provide a wealth of research opportunities for junior investigators. Dr. Han is at an ideal stage of her career to take advantage of a K24 award. She is deeply committed to her investigative career in COPD POR. This application also aligns with promoting research, training, and education for the prevention and treatment of lung disease.