American Asthma Foundation awards $750,000 for asthma research

Dr. Serpil Erzurum, one of the nation's leading experts in asthma, has been awarded $750,000 by the American Asthma Foundation (AAF). Dr. Erzurum will collaborate with experts in nuclear medicine and physics to develop an innovative way for clinicians to observe changes in the lungs of patients during an asthma attack.

Dr. Erzurum's asthma research will:

• study the lungs of asthmatic patients with a new scanning technique,
• define how asthma develops, and
• determine how asthma differs from one person to another, so that personalized treatment can be developed.

Dr. Erzurum is Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathobiology at the Cleveland Clinic. She has also been elected to two of the most prestigious honorary medical societies in the country, The American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

"Innovative and potentially breakthrough research projects, like Dr. Erzurum's, epitomize the American Asthma Foundation's approach to funding cutting-edge research needed to eliminate the asthma epidemic," commented Marion O. Sandler, Chairman of the Board. Continuing on, Sandler said, "The American Asthma Foundation awards have already produced a staggering 17 potential breakthroughs with 11 of these taken up by pharmaceutical companies. After 50 years with virtually no improvements, this large number of discoveries in a short a period of time documents the success of our programs."

Over 23 million, or one in 13 people, in the United States have asthma. More Americans have asthma than coronary heart disease, cancer or Parkinson's disease. Asthma is the most serious chronic disease of childhood and disproportionately strikes the poor.

A brief description of Dr. Erzurum's project can be seen at www.americanasthmafoundation.org/research-program/2009-research-grant-awardees.