Leadership Team
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine Leadership
J. Woodrow Weiss, M.D.
Division Chief
J. Woodrow Weiss, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is a member of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine. Dr. Weiss's academic activities have focused on research and teaching about sleep disordered breathing. His primary research focus has been the hemodynamic consequences of sleep and sleep apnea. In particular, his National Institutes of Health-funded laboratory uses animal and human models to study the changes in peripheral chemoreceptor sensitivity and central sympathetic control that occur after exposure to cyclic intermittent hypoxia as occurs in sleep apnea.
Richard M. Schwartzstein, M.D.
Associate Division Chief
Dr. Richard M. Schwartzstein is Associate Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) where he directs one of only two national centers for the study and treatment of dyspnea (shortness of breath). The Asthma and Dyspnea Center at BIDMC specializes in the evaluation of patients with dyspnea of unclear etiology or breathlessness seemingly out of proportion to the patient's known pulmonary problems.
Dr. Schwartzstein's research has linked basic physiology on the control of breathing and respiratory sensations with clinical dyspnea. Dr. Schwartzstein's work has resulted in a greater understanding of the distinct qualitative aspects of dyspnea, the links between the verbal phrases used by patients to describe their breathing discomfort and the underlying pathophysiologic disorders causing dyspnea, and the origins of chest tightness in asthma.
Dr. Schwartzstein has a strong interest in medical education and holds several leadership positions in education at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School (HMS). He holds the positions of Vice President for Education at BIDMC and Faculty Associate Dean for Medical Education at HMS. Dr. Schwartzstein has been very active in the curriculum reform process at HMS and created one of the pilot curricula for the third year Principal Clinical Experience. He is also Executive Director of the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research, and course director of Integrated Human Physiology at HMS.
David H. Roberts, M.D.
Clinical Director & Medical Director
Pulmonary Function Laboratory
Dr. David H. Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and he is
the Clinical Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).
Dr. Roberts' current professional activities at the BIDMC and HMS include ambulatory patient care, teaching and administration. His clinical practice as a pulmonologist is focused on patients with dyspnea and pulmonary hypertension, as well as other general pulmonary disorders such as COPD and asthma.
Other clinical and teaching responsibilities include attending on the BIDMC inpatient pulmonary consult service and precepting fellows in their ambulatory pulmonary medicine continuity clinic. In addition to developing a case-based ambulatory pulmonary medicine curriculum for the fellows' continuity clinic, Dr. Roberts also teaches medical students and residents. He is course planner, lecturer and tutor for the HMS 2nd year course in Respiratory Pathophysiology.
In addition to his administrative role as Division Clinical Director, Dr. Roberts is also Medical Director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory, and he is the Assistant Director of the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research. In 2005, Dr. Roberts received the "Teacher of the Year" award in the Combined Harvard Program in Pulmonary Medicine, and in 2006 he received the HMS Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Peter Clardy, M.D.
Associate MICU Director
Dr. Clardy is an attending physician in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is currently the Associate Director of Medical Intensive Care, and attends both in the MICU and on the pulmonary consult service. His clinical interests include critical care and pulmonary vascular disease. He is involved in medical education in the hospital and at Harvard Medical School, and has received numerous awards for his ongoing commitment to teaching students and trainees.
In addition to clinical and teaching responsibilities, Dr. Clardy is interested in evidence based medicine and medical editing. He has served as the Deputy Editor of the Pulmonary and Critical Care section of UpToDate, a computer based reference for physicians.
Geoffrey S. Gilmartin, M.D.
Clinical Director, Pulmonary Sleep Medicine
Geoffrey S Gilmartin, M.D. is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is a member of the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Gilmartin currently serves as clinical director of Pulmonary Sleep Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as well as Medical Director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Sleep Laboratory. His clinical focus is on sleep medicine and critical care medicine. Dr. Gilmartin's research focus has been on metabolic and hemodynamic consequences of hypoxia as well as mechanisms of ventilatory control in sleep disordered breathing.
Michael D. Howell, M.D., M.P.H.
Director of Critical Care Quality
Associate Director of Medical Critical Care
Dr. Michael Howell’s clinical, administrative, teaching, and research activities align around the care of critically ill and injured patients. He is the Associate Director of Medical Critical Care in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and he also serves as the Director of Critical Care Quality in the Silverman Institute for Health Care Quality and Safety. The Critical Care Quality division helps align and implement quality and safety priorities across all of the nine adult intensive care units and five physician specialties that provide critical care at BIDMC.
Dr. Howell’s administrative roles also help facilitate his research, which centers on how standardized identification, data-driven risk stratification, and evidence-based treatments for time-sensitive and error-prone diseases affect patient care outcomes. He has a particular interest in protocols which rapidly alter provider staffing. Recent areas of focus include rapid response teams, protocol-based sepsis care, and ventilator-associated pneumonia reduction.
As a result of this work, Dr. Howell serves on the Guidelines Revision Committee of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign, moderated the Rapid Response Team Lessons Learned session at the 2007 Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Annual Congress, and will serve as faculty at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s National Forum in December 2007. At BIDMC, he has been selected as a member of the Patient Safety Core Faculty and has also won several named awards, including the sixth annual Robert M. Melzer Leadership Award.
