Dr. Frank Sciurba received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Illinois and attended medical school at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He has been an American Thoracic Society (ATS) member and a member of the Clinical Problems Assembly since 1988 and has served on the Drug Device Discovery & Development Committee, Council of Chapter Representatives and 10 years on the Clinical Problems Program Committee. He has further contributed to and co-authored several ATS statements related to field and laboratory exercise testing and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) issues, and he has organized and chaired many well-attended ATS symposia and post-graduate courses over the years.
Dr. Sciurba’s research has been inspired by real clinical problems facing his patients. He has co-authored over 200 manuscripts and has had continuous National Institutes of Health funding for 20 years including a Specialized Clinical Center of Research Excellence in COPD P50 award. He has demonstrated clinical and translational research leadership in phenotyping and sub-classification of COPD and interstitial lung disease, surgical and bronchoscopic volume reduction, biomarker identification and development, lab based cardiopulmonary and field walk exercise testing and has facilitated tissue biology, genetic and blood mechanistic and translational projects with basic science collaborators.
Dr. Sciurba's current leadership positions include his role as a Principle Investigator of the Network Management Core of the new National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored Pulmonary Trials Consortium which manages the execution of pragmatic, “real world” studies in a variety of chronic pulmonary conditions; and his role as academic chair of the COPD Biomarker Qualification Committee, a group of academic, foundation and industry partners that work with U.S. Food and Drug Administration leadership to address the need for new biomarkers to facilitate development of drugs and devices for chronic pulmonary conditions.
