Clinical Focus


  • Pulmonary Disease

Academic Appointments


Administrative Appointments


  • Assistant Director, Biodesign Faculty Fellowship, Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign (2015 - Present)

Professional Education


  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Critical Care Medicine (2014)
  • Fellowship: Stanford University (2013) CA
  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease (2012)
  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine (2010)
  • Residency: University of Toronto (2010) Canada
  • Residency: University of Toronto (2009) Canada
  • Internship: University of Toronto (2007) Canada
  • Medical Education: University of Toronto (2006) Canada

All Publications


  • A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial of Zephyr Endobronchial Valve Treatment in Heterogeneous Emphysema (LIBERATE) AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE Criner, G. J., Sue, R., Wright, S., Dransfield, M., Rivas-Perez, H., Wiese, T., Sciurba, F. C., Shah, P. L., Wahidi, M. M., de Oliveira, H., Morrissey, B., Cardoso, P. G., Hays, S., Majid, A., Pastis, N., Kopas, L., Vollenweider, M., McFadden, P., Machuzak, M., Hsia, D. W., Sung, A., Jarad, N., Kornaszewska, M., Hazelrigg, S., Krishna, G., Armstrong, B., Shargill, N. S., Slebos, D., LIBERATE Study Grp 2018; 198 (9): 1151–64

    Abstract

    This is the first multicenter randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Zephyr Endobronchial Valve (EBV) in patients with little to no collateral ventilation out to 12 months.To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Zephyr EBV in heterogeneous emphysema with little to no collateral ventilation in the treated lobe.Subjects were enrolled with a 2:1 randomization (EBV/standard of care [SoC]) at 24 sites. Primary outcome at 12 months was the ΔEBV-SoC of subjects with a post-bronchodilator FEV1 improvement from baseline of greater than or equal to 15%. Secondary endpoints included absolute changes in post-bronchodilator FEV1, 6-minute-walk distance, and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire scores.A total of 190 subjects (128 EBV and 62 SoC) were randomized. At 12 months, 47.7% EBV and 16.8% SoC subjects had a ΔFEV1 greater than or equal to 15% (P < 0.001). ΔEBV-SoC at 12 months was statistically and clinically significant: for FEV1, 0.106 L (P < 0.001); 6-minute-walk distance, +39.31 m (P = 0.002); and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire, -7.05 points (P = 0.004). Significant ΔEBV-SoC were also observed in hyperinflation (residual volume, -522 ml; P < 0.001), modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (-0.8 points; P < 0.001), and the BODE (body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity) index (-1.2 points). Pneumothorax was the most common serious adverse event in the treatment period (procedure to 45 d), in 34/128 (26.6%) of EBV subjects. Four deaths occurred in the EBV group during this phase, and one each in the EBV and SoC groups between 46 days and 12 months.Zephyr EBV provides clinically meaningful benefits in lung function, exercise tolerance, dyspnea, and quality of life out to at least 12 months, with an acceptable safety profile in patients with little or no collateral ventilation in the target lobe. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT 01796392).

    View details for PubMedID 29787288

  • Impact of Advance Care Planning Interventions on Patient and Family Satisfaction: A Systematic Review and Descriptive Analysis Van Wert, R., Wallace, E. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2018: 698–99
  • A Wandering Pulmonary Nodule. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine Van Wert, R., Gayer, G., Guo, H. H., Nair, V. S. 2016: -?

    View details for PubMedID 27512939

  • Impact of a bronchial genomic classifier on clinical decision making in patients undergoing diagnostic evaluation for lung cancer BMC PULMONARY MEDICINE Ferguson, J. S., Van Wert, R., Choi, Y., Rosenbluth, M. J., Smith, K. P., Huang, J., Spira, A. 2016; 16

    Abstract

    Bronchoscopy is frequently used for the evaluation of suspicious pulmonary lesions found on computed tomography, but its sensitivity for detecting lung cancer is limited. Recently, a bronchial genomic classifier was validated to improve the sensitivity of bronchoscopy for lung cancer detection, demonstrating a high sensitivity and negative predictive value among patients at intermediate risk (10-60 %) for lung cancer with an inconclusive bronchoscopy. Our objective for this study was to determine if a negative genomic classifier result that down-classifies a patient from intermediate risk to low risk (<10 %) for lung cancer would reduce the rate that physicians recommend more invasive testing among patients with an inconclusive bronchoscopy.We conducted a randomized, prospective, decision impact survey study assessing pulmonologist recommendations in patients undergoing workup for lung cancer who had an inconclusive bronchoscopy. Cases with an intermediate pretest risk for lung cancer were selected from the AEGIS trials and presented in a randomized fashion to pulmonologists either with or without the patient's bronchial genomic classifier result to determine how the classifier results impacted physician decisions.Two hundred two physicians provided 1523 case evaluations on 36 patients. Invasive procedure recommendations were reduced from 57 % without the classifier result to 18 % with a negative (low risk) classifier result (p < 0.001). Invasive procedure recommendations increased from 50 to 65 % with a positive (intermediate risk) classifier result (p < 0.001). When stratifying by ultimate disease diagnosis, there was an overall reduction in invasive procedure recommendations in patients with benign disease when classifier results were reported (54 to 41 %, p < 0.001). For patients ultimately diagnosed with malignant disease, there was an overall increase in invasive procedure recommendations when the classifier results were reported (50 to 64 %, p = 0.003).Our findings suggest that a negative (low risk) bronchial genomic classifier result reduces invasive procedure recommendations following an inconclusive bronchoscopy and that the classifier overall reduces invasive procedure recommendations among patients ultimately diagnosed with benign disease. These results support the potential clinical utility of the classifier to improve management of patients undergoing bronchoscopy for suspect lung cancer by reducing additional invasive procedures in the setting of benign disease.

    View details for DOI 10.1186/s12890-016-0217-1

    View details for Web of Science ID 000375958900001

    View details for PubMedID 27184093

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4869188