People

	Timothy E. Corcoran, PhD Co-Director Dr. Corcoran is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Division. He also holds secondary appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He completed his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at Carnegie Mellon University in 2000, after completing his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering at Lehigh University. Dr. Corcoran’s primary research interests include aerosol drug delivery and aerosol-based nuclear imaging of the lung. He has been extensively involved in the development of inhaled medications for lung transplant recipients and cystic fibrosis patients and the development special techniques for improving inhaled drug delivery such as the use of low density gases and surfactants to improve drug distribution in the lungs. Dr. Corcoran had developed imaging techniques for quantifying pulmonary physiology including measurements of mucociliary clearance and liquid absorption in the airways. These techniques have been tested in a series of clinical studies involving adult and pediatric patients and will be used to screen new medications for treating lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis. corcorante@upmc.edu | 412-624-8918
	Jessica Bon Field, MD, MS Co-Director Dr. Bon is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Division. She completed her M.D. at Jefferson Medical College in 2000 and completed her fellowship training in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in 2008. Dr. Bon’s academic and research interests focus on the clinical translational investigation of clinical and molecular phenotypes and disease progression in COPD. Her research concentrates on the role of inflammation and immune mechanisms in lung disease progression and musculoskeletal comorbidities, with the goal of identifying targets for precision therapy in COPD. Clinically, Dr. Bon focuses on the management and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In her outpatient pulmonary practice, she evaluates patients for lung volume reduction surgery and manages patients with difficult to treat and severe COPD. bonjm@upmc.edu | 412-648-3098
	Seyed Mehdi Nouraie, MD, PhD Lead, PTRC Biometrics Core Dr. Nouraie received his MD degree and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Tehran, Iran. Dr. Nouraie is an Associate Professor and an epidemiologist with extensive experience in sickle cell clinical research. Dr. Nouraie’s research expertise is in hematology oncology of African American population including sickle cell disease and GI cancer. He has published over 100 peer reviewed papers in different clinical fields. Dr. Nouraie leads the PTRC Biometrics Core, providing comprehensive biostatistical and data management support, from hypothesis development and study design to data analysis and interpretation of results. nouraies@upmc.edu | 412-648-6169
	Vera Iouchmanov, BS, CCRC Director of Regulatory Affairs Vera obtained a bachelor’s degree in sciences and post-graduation degree in Economics in Brazil. She has been working for the University of Pittsburgh in clinical research since 2003 and joined the PTRC in 2014. Vera is an accomplished clinical research coordinator with focus in regulatory affairs and up to date with local and federal regulations.  She is familiar with the regulatory aspects of industry and federal trials, coordinating center protocols and with the processes of Single IRBs submissions. She holds a certification from the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP). iouchmanovvl@upmc.edu | 412-864-3052
	Nina Lenkey, MS Clinical Research Coordinator Nina Lenkey received her B.S. in biology in 2014 from Youngstown state University and went on to M.S. in biology with a focus in immunology in 2016 also from YSU. Nina’s masters work focused on finding a peptide ligand compatible with Staphylococcus Aureus for vaccine development. Following graduation, she went on to work at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) in the integrated medical sciences department as a research assistant focused on a specific ion channel and its relation to cardiac injury (angiogenesis post first MI) and its relation to angiogenesis as a mechanism to delivery of anti-cancer treatments. She then moved to the neurobiology and anatomy department at NEOMED working to identify different neurological auditory pathways within the brain. This work was part of the Hearing Research Group at NEOMED focused on tinnitus and possible mechanisms of treatment. She moved from Youngstown, Ohio to join the PTRC in November and is now working on enrollment in different research trials within the research core. lenkeyn@upmc.edu | 412-683-7112
	Anthony Wesolowski, BS, CRT, RPSGT Clinical Research Coordinator Tony received his BS from the University of Pittsburgh in Health Services. He is a Certified Respiratory Therapist, and a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist. He has extensive experience in the respiratory therapy field. He has managed multiple sleep centers in the UPMC health system for over fifteen years. During his time in the Sleep Center he assisted in many research projects involving BiPAP and Auto PAP trials. He also participated in the initial trials of using upper airway stimulation to treat obstructive sleep apnea. wesolowskiap2@upmc.edu | 412-692-2263
	Carol Oriss, BSN, RN Clinical Research Coordinator Carol has over 30 years of nursing experience, having graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in 1987. Early in her career she held positions on oncology, neonatal intensive care, and bone marrow transplant units, as well as in private oncology practice. In the latter, she first became involved with research and has been a Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator since 1993. Notable among numerous positions held, she worked with Dr. Bernard Fisher on several of the landmark NSABP clinical trials, and has served as a liaison to the National Marrow Donor Program. In 2009 she was promoted to Clinical Research Manager and served in that capacity with the divisions of Infectious Diseases, Rheumatology & Clinical Immunology, and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. Additionally, during her management years, to maintain her clinical skills, Carol has worked as a casual pediatric home care nurse for PSA Healthcare. Desiring a more clinical focus to round out her career, Carol joined PACCM in 2018. orissca@upmc.edu | 412-864-6371
	Xiaoping Chen, MS Senior Database Developer Xiaoping is a data manager in PTRC. She holds a M.S.  in Information Science from University of Pittsburgh and a M.S in Zoological and Biomedical Science from Ohio University. Xiaoping has extensive experience in database design and development, data extraction from EMR from different UPMC systems, and database administration and management. She has provided her expertise and worked on multiple projects for Lung Transplant center, Acute Lung Injury Center, Asthma Institution, Simmons Center, Pulmonary Hypertension and Translational Biorepository lab. chenx9@upmc.edu | 412-578-9544
	Matthew Broerman, MA Biostatistician, PTRC Biometrics Core Matt received his Master's in Applied Statistics at the University of Pittsburgh in 2020. He has a background in spatial statistics and causal inference, and has published in single-cell RNA-seq analysis. At the PRTC Biometrics Core, Matt supports data exploration, reproducible statistical analysis of clinical and translational data, and study design in R, Python, and SAS. In addition, he assists the assembly and maintenance of the harmonized PTRC research database. broermanmj@upmc.edu | 412-802-6860