Timothy Blackwell, MD, Rudy W. Jacobson Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and director of the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, is leaving Vanderbilt University Medical Center to chair the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. He assumes his new role on March 1.
Blackwell, physician-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Lung Institute and director of the Center for Lung Research, joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1995 and has been director of the division since 2007.
“Dr. Blackwell, as only the third director of the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, has had an enormous influence on the character and success of the program,” said Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, the former Hugh Jackson Morgan Professor of Medicine and chair of the Department of Medicine. “His nose for talent and ability to develop people is quintessentially strong.”
During Blackwell’s tenure as director of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, the division grew from 37 to 118 faculty members and advanced practice providers with more than $50 million annually of research funding. He was instrumental in launching the Vanderbilt Lung Institute (VLI) in 2020, with the goal of seamlessly interconnecting patient care delivery in Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology, and Thoracic Surgery.
Since opening, the VLI has greatly expanded clinical services throughout the region by delivering integrated and personalized state-of-the-art care and research with a focus on lung transplantation and advanced lung diseases.
“Tim has been a wonderful colleague and mentor to all of us,” said Joao A. de Andrade, MD, professor of Medicine, chief medical officer of the VLI and associate director of the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. “Under his leadership, we became one of the premier pulmonary divisions in the country, and I have no doubt that he will be very successful in Michigan. While we are sad to see him go, we recognize that this is a great personal and professional opportunity for him and are very proud of him. He built a legacy of excellence at Vanderbilt, and we will strive to uphold it.”
Blackwell’s laboratory investigates the pathobiology of a variety of lung diseases, including interstitial lung diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute lung injury and lung cancer using basic and translational science approaches.
“The impact he has had on advancing new insights and novel treatments for lung diseases truly can’t be understated. Michigan is also a powerhouse of medical research, and they are very lucky to have recruited Tim to lend his talents now to the full breadth of medicine,” Rathmell said.
Blackwell is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.
In 2013 he won the scientific achievement award from the American Thoracic Society and was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2017 where he was recognized for his distinguished contributions to pulmonary medicine.
Blackwell chaired the Lung Injury, Repair and Remodeling Study Section at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and served on the Program Project Review Committee. He is currently a member of the Board of External Experts, which sets strategic vision and goals for the institute.
He has been recognized with several awards for consistent and highly effective mentorship of basic science researchers and physician-scientists throughout his career. Blackwell has mentored 40 trainees and junior faculty, many of whom have gone on to develop successful independent research-focused careers, and has directed a T32 training program that is now in its fourth cycle of funding.
“Since I first arrived at Vanderbilt in as a fellow in 1992, I have been continually impressed with the quality and collegiality of the people here,” Blackwell said. “I have enjoyed each of my 31 years at VUMC, and especially the last 17 as division director. We have built an incredible team that has made enormous contributions to clinical care and research in respiratory diseases, and the trajectory of our impact has greatly accelerated through creation of the Vanderbilt Lung Institute.
“Over the years, I have visited many other divisions across the country, and I can say with confidence that there is not a better group anywhere,” he said. “It is never an easy decision to leave a place that you love, but over the last few months I have come to believe that the time is right for a change. We have outstanding leadership at every level in the division and an incredibly talented group of faculty who are continually advancing the field. This group is poised to take the division to greater heights in the future.”
Blackwell received his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in 1984 and his MD from the University of Alabama in 1988. He trained in internal medicine at Washington University and completed a pulmonary and critical care fellowship at VUMC.