Sime Named URMC Division Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Pulmonary expert Patricia J. Sime, M.D., FRCP, has been named chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The appointment is effective July 1.
Sime is a professor of Medicine, Environmental Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Oncology, as well as director of Pulmonary Research Programs and associate chair of Medicine for Research.
An authority in the field of pulmonology best known for her basic and translational research of lung inflammation and scarring, Sime has been a URMC faculty member for more than a decade. She is known as a highly productive physician-scientist who runs a vibrant translational lung-disease program considering mechanisms and therapeutic interventions in lung inflammation and scarring, with an additional focus on the study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). She excels in combining care of patients with research and teaching missions.
“We are incredibly pleased Dr. Sime has accepted this position,” said Paul C. Levy, M.D., acting chair of the URMC Department of Medicine. “Her talents as a clinician, teacher, researcher and administrator have made a significant impact over the past 10 years, and those same attributes will allow her to expand research endeavors, as well as grow the clinical enterprise and further improve patient care.”
Mark B. Taubman, M.D., dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and former chair of the Department of Medicine, has worked with Sime since 2003.
“She is a highly sought-after physician who is considered one of the top investigators and clinicians in the world in the field of pulmonary medicine,” Taubman said. “It is our institution’s good fortune to have her accept this leadership role and advance the vision of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the University of Rochester Medical Center.”
Sime earned her medical degree with honors from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Scotland. She completed training at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh. She was then awarded a highly competitive traveling fellowship to McMaster University in Canada, followed by research and clinical fellowships also at McMaster.
She subsequently held a faculty position at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and served as director of the Clinical Resource Teaching Center at the University of Edinburgh, before accepting a position in 1999 at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Most recently, in 2008, Sime was named associate chair of Medicine for Research, charged with working closely with the chair of Medicine, senior leadership and division chiefs to coordinate research recruitment for the Department of Medicine and to develop interdivisional and interdepartmental programs in conjunction with URMC’s Strategic Plan.
Her work has been featured in nearly 100 peer-reviewed publications, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. She holds a number of National Institutes of Health grants, currently serving as principle investigator for three major grants and co-investigator for five. She also is an investigator on several clinical studies of novel therapeutics for patients with lung scarring. Annually, she is an invited speaker and visiting professor at institutions and meetings across the United States and Canada, as well as Asia and Europe.
Sime is one of the youngest fellows ever to be elected to the Royal College of Physicians. In 2009, she was elected to membership of the prestigious American Society for Clinical Investigation in recognition of her outstanding research contributions. At the national level, she serves as chair of the American Thoracic Society’s Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology Planning Committee and is a permanent member of the NIH Lung Injury, Repair and Remodeling Study Section.
She received the University of Rochester Excellence in Research Award in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and the University of Rochester Mentoring Award for Trainees in Basic Science in 2009.