Asthma Management 2024 - From Comorbidities to SMART Therapy

This past installment of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine grand rounds, on Friday 19-January-2024, focused on asthma management as described by Dr. Kaharu Sumino.

Dr. Kaharu Sumino is a physician and an investigator in Pulmonary Medicine with a specialized interest in airway disease including asthma and COPD. She is a Professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis and has an affiliation with Saint Louis VA Medical Center. Her research interests include clinical trials in asthma, comparative effectiveness research in obstructive lung disease, stakeholder engagement in research and translational studies in respiratory virus infection. She has been actively engaged in the conduct of multiple national clinical research network including American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Center network, NIH funded networks including Severe Asthma Research Program and PrecICE (Precision Interventions for Severe and/or Exacerbation-Prone Asthma) network, and Pulmonary trials cooperatives participating in their trials as a site PI and Co-investigator. She led the ASIST (Asthma Symptom-based Inhaled Steroid in African American children) study funded by PCORI, which is a community-engaged pragmatic study in asthmatic children working with community pediatricians in Saint Louis. The result of this study is now included in a well-sited international asthma guideline (Global Initiative in Asthma: GINA). Her recent interest also involves implementation of as-needed inhaled steroids in asthma in the community setting, and patient and stakeholder engagement in research. Clinically, she leads the severe asthma clinic at Washington University Lung Center deeply engaged in delivery of quality care to improve the lives of patients with uncontrolled asthma.