November is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month. Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) is a rare blood vessel disorder of the lung in which the pressure in the pulmonary artery (the blood vessel that leads from the heart to the lungs) rises above normal levels and may become life threatening. It is a disease that affects people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds.
In our region, the University of South Alabama Pulmonary Hypertension Center provides care for patients with PH and educates patients, families, and the community about the disease. Its mission is to search for better treatments and ultimately a cure for PH through research at the USA Center for Lung Biology and clinical trials through the USA Pulmonary Hypertension Center. Patients are referred to our center from throughout southern Alabama as well as Mississippi and Florida.
Dr. Karen A. Fagan serves as medical director of the USA Pulmonary Hypertension Center. She has more than 14 years of experience in the diagnosis and management of PH. Dr. Fagan is an internationally recognized leader in the PH field as both a clinician and scientist. She is on the Scientific Leadership Council of the PH Association and a leader in the Pulmonary Circulation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society. Dr. Fagan has written more than 40 scientific and clinical articles and book chapters and is frequently invited to speak on PH.
Scientific discoveries made by Dr. Ivan McMurtry, a researcher at the USA Center for Lung Biology, serve as the basis for many of the drugs currently used to treat patients with PH. Dr. McMurtry has written and reviewed numerous publications regarding PH. He is a member of the American Physiological Society, American Thoracic Society and the American Heart Association.
