What we do

Katrina Barry, MPH, is a patient advocate for Pulmonary Hypertension. Katrina studied biology at Boston University and then worked in personalized medicine research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, USA. Katrina was later diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. She has master’s in public health, with a concentration in monitoring and evaluation of global health programs and a context certificate in infectious disease. Her research interests are focused on the global burden of pulmonary hypertension and how to manage the disease in low-resource settings. Her background in medical research led her to work in patient advocacy, helping patients navigate the devastation of the disease and the complexity of clinical trials. Katrina is a volunteer patient consultant for Merck Pharmaceuticals and runs the unofficial Facebook page for Sotatercept/Winrevair. Katrina has been a moderator with PVRI since 2022.

Dr Joel James is a cell signaling enthusiast and a K99/R00 postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University, Indianapolis. He has a PhD in Biochemistry, with a specialized focus on mitochondrial redox biology. His current interests are mitochondrial dysfunction and cell-cell communication in Pulmonary Hypertension. Joel's latest research delves into the intricate world of endothelial cell heterogeneity and pericyte function, contributing to our understanding of pulmonary hypertension.

Dr Kudryashova is an Assistant Professor at University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. Her research interests are focused on investigation of molecular and cellular mechanisms of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), especially mechanisms of pulmonary vascular remodeling. Dr Kudryashova's long-standing research interests are focused on investigating sex-specific mechanisms of pulmonary vascular remodeling and role of extracellular matrix in PAH and development of therapeutic treatment, which can attenuate pulmonary vascular remodeling in PAH.

Dr Lucilla Piccari, M.D., Ph.D. is a pulmonologist at the Pulmonary Hypertension nit in Hospital del Mar (Barcelona, Spain), where she coordinates the Spanish Registry of Pulmonary Hypertension in Lung Disease (Registro Español de Hipertensión pulmonar Asociada a enfermedad Respiratoria, REHAR). She is the Director of the Pulmonary Vascular Research Program at the Spanish Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery Society (SEPAR). Her research interests are focused on phenotyping in Group 3 pulmonary hypertension, the patient perspective in pulmonary hypertension and the effects of climate change and social determinants of health on pulmonary vascular disease.

Dr Sahay is a dedicated pulmonary critical care physician with specialization in pulmonary vascular diseases. Currently he is an associate professor in the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep Medicine, at the Houston Methodist Hospital. He also serves as co-director of the pulmonary hypertension program at the Houston Methodist Hospital. He is well known for his work in the field of pulmonary hypertension. With a passion for improving patient outcomes, he focuses his research on risk stratification in pulmonary hypertension, PH ILD and CTEPH. As a national leader in the space, he serves as Principal investigator on many phase 2 and 3 clinical trials investigating newer therapies for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Attributed to his sharp knowledge and skill, he is invited to participate in many scientific steering committees, national leadership roles, guideline panels and in decision making roles with industry and regulatory leadership. He is the Chair of the American college of chest physician, CHEST’s Pulmonary Vascular diseases section. He has history of working with the CHEST organization for a long time. He started as a fellow in training in the PVD network in 2013. Owing to his active contribution to the CHEST society, he is now the Chair of the same PVD section. He was awarded ACCP CHEST PAH research grant in 2017 to assess the role of estrogen in portopulmonary hypertension as a mentee. After successfully completing his research, he mentored his fellow to receive the ILD research grant award with ACCP CHEST in 2020. Additionally, he also serves executive committee of the American Thoracic Society’s pulmonary circulation assembly and Pulmonary Hypertension association’s scientific leadership committee. He has published numerous scientific papers related to pulmonary hypertension. He also serves as Associate Editor of pulmonary circulation, JHLT Open and Respiratory Medicine Journals. He routinely gets invited to speak in national and international scientific meetings. He serves on end point adjudication committees, DSMB’s for NIH funded studies and multiple clinical trials. He enjoys teaching and learning from the Methodist faculty and fellows as well as medical colleagues around the world and enjoys working with house staff and students at the Methodist. Taking care of PH patients is the most gratifying experience for him. He has demonstrated his passion in improving lives of patients with advanced lung diseases like PH and ILD. Outside interests includes listening to music, traveling and spending time with family.

Dr Jason Weatherald is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, specialising in pulmonary arterial hypertension and acute pulmonary embolism research. His work focuses on risk assessment methods and patient-oriented studies in pulmonary hypertension, including innovative clinical trial endpoints and designs. 

Since 2020, Dr Weatherald has also contributed significantly to COVID-19 research, investigating awake-prone positioning and dyspnea mechanisms in Long Covid. Alongside his clinical interests in pulmonary hypertension, he demonstrates expertise in lung transplantation and thromboembolic disease. Recognised in numerous publications, Dr Weatherald is a leading figure driving advancements in pulmonary medicine, with a commitment to improving patient care and reshaping clinical practice.