Andrei Constantinescu, MD

Dr. Arcasoy was recruited to Columbia University as the Medical Program Director of Lung Transplantation in 2001 from the University of Pennsylvania. After his recruitment, he completely turned around the Lung Transplantation Program to rank amongst the top 5 to 10 programs in the country with regard to volume and patient survival. Under his leadership, the Lung Transplant Program has been performing more than 80 transplants annually. In October 2019, Dr. Arcasoy and his team celebrated their 1000th lung transplant since 2001. Despite high transplant volumes and very sick pretransplant candidates, the survival of lung transplant recipients has remained stellar. Currently, 1-year survival of lung transplant recipients at Columbia University is 90%, 5-year survival 65%, and 10-year survival 42%. Dr. Arcasoy has gained national and international reputation with various leadership roles in professional organizations and scientific societies. He previously chaired the Thoracic Organ Transplant Committee of the AST and the Transplant Network Steering Committee of the ACCP. He recently served in the Thoracic Organ Transplant Committee of the OPTN to develop Continuous Distribution of Lungs. He is currently the Associate Chair for Advanced Lung Failure and Transplantation in the Standards and Guidelines Committee of the ISHLT.

Sahil A. Parikh, MD is the Director of Endovascular Services at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His clinical practice leverages his knowledge and experience in clinical cardiovascular medicine and complex coronary and peripheral vascular interventions. He has an active practice in cardiovascular medicine with a focus on atherosclerotic vascular disease and intervention throughout the circulation. This includes coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease including claudication and critical limb ischemia, renovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and venous disease and thrombosis. He is a nationally recognized clinician educator and investigator in vascular medicine and intervention. He has won numerous teaching awards locally and co-directs several national educational programs for physicians in training and for continuing medical education in conjunction with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention (SCAI). His research interests focus on novel endovascular devices for the treatment of vascular disease. He has been the site and national principal investigator for several clinical trials and has authored more than 50 original manuscripts and reviews in basic and clinical cardiovascular medicine. He lectures frequently at national meetings including Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), ACC and SCAI amongst others. Dr. Parikh grew up in northern New Jersey and graduated from Livingston High School. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard College with an AB in Biomedical Sciences and Engineering and went on to earn his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha honors. He completed his internal medicine residency and chief residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiology fellowships at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and vascular medicine and intervention fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital, all teaching hospitals affiliated with the Harvard Medical School in Boston. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, Interventional Cardiology, Vascular Medicine and Endovascular Intervention.

My interest in pediatric pulmonology stems from my early pediatric training, where I first learned about the wide spectrum of respiratory diseases that affect children. I recognized the unique opportunity I would have as a pulmonologist to make a difference in young people's lives. During a pediatric pulmonology fellowship at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, I developed a strong foundation in a variety of respiratory issues, and in my current practice I diagnose and treat children of all ages with lung conditions including asthma, chronic lung disorders of infancy, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, interstitial lung diseases, pulmonary hypoplasia, obstructive sleep apnea, obesity-related pulmonary diseases, and pulmonary dysfunction in musculoskeletal disorders. My patients come from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds and I strive to provide culturally sensitive and evidence-based clinical care. At Columbia, I am part of a team with unique expertise with performing pulmonary function and exercise physiology tests to assess our patients. We also work closely with other specialties to manage children and adolescents with complex conditions. I am also involved in research and educational activities. I have studied long-term pulmonary complications in children with sickle cell disease and congenital diaphragmatic hernia, as well as in those who are undergoing cancer therapy or stem cell transplantation. I am member of national committees and networks of experts who study rare lung disorders. I am engaged in clinical trials of new drug therapies for children with interstitial lung diseases, and am also actively engaged in pediatric asthma research. Additionally, I lead the pulmonology fellowship training program here at Columbia, through which we teach and train the next generation of physicians to become future leaders in pediatric pulmonology.