Michael Iannuzzi, MD, MBA

Dr. Michael Iannuzzi has held several academic administrative roles including serving as Division Director in Pulmonary, Critical care and Sleep Medicine at the Ichan School of Medicine, Chairman of Medicine at SUNY Upstate, Syracuse, NY and Chairman of Medicine at Northwell Health Staten Island University Hospital. Dr. Iannuzzi began his research career working with Francis Collins and is one of the co-discoverers of the Cystic Fibrosis gene. He is an internationally recognized leader in the genetics of lung diseases and is well known for his work in Cystic Fibrosis and in elucidating gene-environmental interactions in sarcoidosis. He was one of the early funded investigators working to apply gene therapy to lung diseases. He was one of the leaders in the multicenter study “A Case Control Etiologic Sarcoidosis Study” (ACCESS) and was the principal investigator for the multicenter grant “Sarcoidosis Genetic linkage consortium” (SAGA). Dr. Iannuzzi was the first to develop gene transfection of respiratory epithelial cells using electroporation and identified novel CFTR mutations that result in mild disease. He has led his sarcoidosis research team for the past 30 years whose focus has been to applied novel approaches to defining the epidemiology and risk factors in sarcoidosis. His team has worked to define why African Americans are more commonly and severely affected by sarcoidosis. His experience in medical administration, his scientific accomplishments and leadership make him well suit to fulfill his role in the proposed project.