The University of Wisconsin site, headed by PI William Busse, MD and Co-Investigator Nizar Jarjour, MD, is focused on the role of respiratory infections, particularly rhinovirus (RV), in the etiology of severe asthma. Specific objectives include 1) establishing the contribution of airway and parenchymal abnormalities in airflow obstruction through pulmonary function testing and lung imaging, correlating these changes with presence of RV and the characteristics of airway inflammation, 2) detecting RV in the upper (nasal lavage) and lower airway (sputum and bronchoscopy) and evaluating the effects of RV infection on the characteristics of asthma over the spectrum of severity and non-asthma controls, and 3) determining the phenotype and function of airway macrophages and blood derived macrophages, relating it to the presence of RV and the characteristics of asthma, both severe and non-severe as well as non-asthma controls.

William Busse, MD (Principal Investigator)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

J5/219 CSC 2454

600 Highland Ave

Madison, WI 53792-2454

wwb@medicine.wisc.edu

608.263.6183 (ph)

608.263.3104 (fax)

            William W. Busse is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin Medical School. Following an internship at Cincinnati General Hospital, he completed a residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin under the mentorship of Dr. Charles E. Reed. Dr. Busse has been on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin Medical School since 1974. He has served as head of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Section (1978-2004) and is presently George R. and Elaine Love Professor and Chair of Medicine. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and American Board of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

            Dr. Busse's research interests have focused on the mechanism of asthma with particular interests in eosinophilic inflammation, rhinovirus-induced asthma, and severe asthma for which he has had long-standing NIH support. He is also the Principal Investigator on an NIH-NIAID Inner City Asthma Consortium, which is funded to study immune-based therapy for asthma in inner-city children.

            Over the years, Dr. Busse has served on a number of committees. He was a director on the American Board of Allergy and Immunology (1989-1995). He was on the Advisory Council, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (1996-2000). Dr. Busse was a member of the Expert Panel on the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma (1989, 2002), and is presently chair of this group. From 1994-2004, he was on the AAAAI Board of Directors and served as President of the AAAAI in 2000-2001.

            Dr. Busse has been a co-editor of the book Allergy: Principles and Practice and Asthma and Rhinitis. He was associate editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (1997-1998) and associate editor of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2002-2005). In 2001 he was elected into the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Busse received the Folkert Belzer Life Achievement Award in 2004, and the American Thoracic Society Award for Scientific Accomplishments in 2005, and in 2008 received the Citation Award for Achievement from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Nizar Jarjour, MD (Co-Investigator)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

K4/914 CSC 9988

600 Highland Ave

Madison, WI 53792-9988

nnj@medicine.wisc.edu

608.263-9344 (ph)

            Dr. Nizar N. Jarjour is a Professor of Medicine, and Head, Section of Allergy, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine. He also serves as director of the Clinical and Translational Research Core at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Madison, WI. Dr. Jarjour's research program include mechanisms of allergic inflammation, role of eosinophil in airway disease, pathogenesis of viral-induced asthma exacerbations, etiology and characteristics of severe asthma, mechanisms of action of anti-asthma medication, airway remodeling and clinical aspects of asthma.

            He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. His clinical activities include staffing the University of Wisconsin Hospital Trauma and Life Center, outpatient and inpatient pulmonary consultations and directing the Pulmonary Diagnostics Laboratory.

            Dr. Jarjour is an instructor on three research training awards in Allergy-Immunology, Neurobiology and Cellular & Molecular Pathology. He is a past president of the Wisconsin Thoracic Society and a current member of the Respiratory Integrated Biology Study Section at National Institute of Health. Dr. Jarjour is a member of the American Thoracic Society, American College of Physicians and American College of Chest Physicians.