Irina Petrache, MD

Irina Petrache is Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health and University of Colorado, Denver, CO. Dr. Petrache received her medical degree from the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania and received postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at Saint Luke’s/St Vincent Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH; and in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. She is a practicing pulmonary and critical care physician-scientist and the principal investigator of a laboratory that investigates the pathogenesis of and repair strategies for pulmonary emphysema and COPD. Her studies have focused on the role of cell death in lung alveoli, the significance of bioactive lipid such as sphingolipids in lung responses to cigarette smoke and vasculo-protective effects of alpha-one antitrypsin. The laboratory is also involved in collaborative work related to lung regeneration and metabolomic and molecular phenotyping in COPD.