David Erasmus, MBChB, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Jan. 4 as medical director of the Vanderbilt Lung Transplant Program.
In the position, Erasmus reports to Joao de Andrade, MD, Timothy Blackwell, MD, Rudy W. Jacobson Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology.
More than 500 lung transplants have been performed at Vanderbilt since the lung transplant program began in 1990, including 54 lung transplants and one simultaneous heart-lung transplant in calendar year 2021, a record year for the program.
“As our lung transplant program continues to grow as one of the most innovative in the U.S., we are so excited to have Dr. Erasmus, a preeminent transplant pulmonologist, joining us as our new director,” said Seth Karp, MD, H. William Scott Jr. Professor, chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center.
Erasmus comes to Vanderbilt from Mayo Clinic Jacksonville (Florida), where he had been medical director of the lung transplant program since 2015.
In addition to his clinical and administrative responsibilities, Erasmus is involved in the education of fellows, medical residents and medical students.
Erasmus’ clinical interests include ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP), a new technique that has the potential to increase the supply of donor lungs by rehabilitating organs previously considered too damaged for transplant. His interests also include interventional bronchoscopy after lung transplantation and the use of point-of-care ultrasound in ICU management.
Erasmus received his medical degree from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and completed an internship at Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He then moved to St. Louis University for his residency and subspecialty training in pulmonology and critical care medicine.
He is a member of the American College of Chest Physicians and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.
