MD
Professor
Director of the Center for Airways Disease
UNC-Chapel Hill
Immunology and Immunotherapy Research Program
Area of Interest
Doerschuk’s research addresses host defense mechanisms in the lungs, particularly the inflammatory and innate immune processes that are important in the pathogenesis and course of bacterial pneumonia, acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome, and lung disease induced environmental toxins. Basic and translational studies address the mechanisms of host defense that focus on leukocyte recruitment, edema, and lung injury using in vivo, translational, imaging, cell biological, immunological, molecular and multi-omic approaches. These studies investigate pathogens that cause community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonias that can occur in immunocompromised patients with cancer. Her goal is to use this knowledge to develop therapies that enhance the inflammatory response when it is beneficial to the host and dampen this response when it is harmful.
Doerschuk is interested in the mechanisms through which the lungs produce cytokines, chemokines and other regulatory inflammatory mediators in response to bacterial, viral, and other pathogens that then induce the production of other mediators and adhesion molecules on endothelial cells and result in the recruitment of leukocytes. Her studies pursue the functions of lung macrophage subpopulations, NK cells and neutrophils during innate immune responses.
In addition to lung infections, Doerschuk also studies lung injuries induced by products resulting from combustion of burn pits and other materials. Studies pursue the mechanisms through which single and multiple exposures combustion products lead to inflammation and the impact of these products on the lungs response to pathogens. Doerschuk heads the Center for Airways Disease. The Center’s goal is to further the conceptual and mechanistic understanding of diseases that affect the airways of the lungs.
Awards and Honors
- Distinguished Achievement Award, American Thoracic Society, 2016
- PI of R01, “Migration and resolution, lung microenvironment and mechanisms: examining the diverse responses of neutrophils during S. pneumoniae pneumonia and acute lung injury”
- PI of R01, “Uncovering and understanding the many functions of ICAM-1 in the lungs during homeostasis and innate immune responses”
- PI of R21, “The pulmonary immune response induced by single and multiple exposures to combustion products of burn pit constituents”
- Multi-PI (contact) of T32 Research Training Program, “UNC Research Training Program in Respiratory Diseases and Critical Care”
- Parker B. Francis Lectureship, American Thoracic Society International meeting, 2006
- Chair, NIH Study Section, Lung Injury, Resolution and Repair, 2008 – 2010
- Elizabeth Rich MD Award, American Thoracic Society, 2003
- Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1999
- Membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, 1998
- Member, NHLBI PPG Parent Committee, 1998 – 2002
- American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishment, 1998
- Henry Pickering Bowditch Lectureship, American Physiological Society, Experimental Biology, 1993
- American Lung Association Career Investigator Award, 1990 – 1995
