Katie McPherson, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, has joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center after completing a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado in Aurora.
In addition to her clinical duties in pulmonary and critical care medicine, McPherson serves on the Lung Transplant/Advanced Lung Disease service at VUMC.
“We were delighted that Dr. McPherson chose to join us after finishing her training, where she earned a number of accolades for excellence in clinical care and medical education,” said Timothy Blackwell, MD, Rudy W. Jacobson Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and director of the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. “Her academic interests in lung transplantation, medical ethics and medical education are a great fit for us. Using these skills, she has already made important contributions to a variety of programs in the division.”
McPherson said she is impressed with VUMC’s collaborative nature and its focus on the patient and family.
“I grew up with a chronically ill older brother, so patient- and family-centered care is my utmost interest,” she said. “The focus here is making sure that we, as clinicians and educators, put the patient at the center of our care model. It’s a very warm place for patients and families to be.”
McPherson said she enjoys taking care of patients undergoing lung transplant. “I am very close to these patients. They mean a lot to me. These patients have very complex diseases, and these are the patients I want to focus on. That’s all from having a family member with a complex disease and sitting on the other side of this for the first part of my life.”
She received her undergraduate degree in chemistry and ethics in 2009 from Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. She earned her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis in 2013 and remained there to complete her internal medicine training in 2016, serving as chief resident from 2016-2017 at Indiana University’s affiliate, Methodist Hospital.
McPherson also has a passion for education. She’s the clinical preceptor for fellows rotating through the lung transplant clinic at VUMC. During her fellowship she enrolled in the University of Colorado’s Teaching Scholars Program where, she gained expertise in adult educational theory and scholarship in medical education as well as in lung transplantation.
She is a member of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplant and the American Thoracic Society, who awarded her the 2020 Innovations in Fellowship Education program’s top abstract for curricula development, including a medical intensive care unit curriculum and a “Fellow as Educator” curriculum.
