Pulmonary Medicine

Research

Mayo Clinic recognizes that high-quality care depends on scientific discovery. Its major research programs in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine are focused on improving care of people with conditions related to the lungs and breathing.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds many Mayo Clinic research projects in this field each year. NIH cooperation helps create an environment for innovative research in which Mayo Clinic clinician-scientists and researchers produce original research articles that are published in many peer-reviewed journals.

Our pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine researchers are committed to advancing medical innovations. Areas of success include:

A new treatment for complex central airway stenosis that uses airway stents made to match each patient's anatomy, through the technology of 3D printing.
A new way to analyze people's health based on voice recordings, including detecting pulmonary hypertension.
A laboratory studying mindful breathing for pulmonary rehabilitation.
A less invasive way to reduce lung volume in people with emphysema.
New treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, alveolar proteinosis and many other pulmonary conditions.
A regenerative medicine approach for helping people with COPD.
A new generation of bronchoscopic techniques to perform incision-free procedures.
An innovative cell-based therapy production facility at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Mayo Clinic's strong influence in pulmonary medicine research extends back decades. Leading up to and during World War II, our researchers transformed aviation by developing the oxygen mask and the G-suit.