Norbert F. Voelkel, MD
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Denver, Colorado

Presentation Title
Why Severe Pulmonary Hypertension is so Difficult to Treat

Dr. Voelkel is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC).  In 1992 he became the director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at UCHSC and in 2002 the director of its COPD Center.  After completing a four-year fellowship in the pulmonary medicine at UCHSC, he joined the faculty there in 1981, moving from assistant professor in 1982 to associate professor in 1986 to full professor in 1991.  In 1999 he received an endowed chair as the Hart Family Professor of Emphysema Research.

Dr. Voelkel earned his medical degree from the University of Hamburg Medical School in 1972 and completed a four-year residency (1973-1977) in internal medicine at that institution.  Between 1977 and 1981 Dr. Voelkel held two fellowships at UCHSC:  a research position in the Cardiovascular Pulmonary Research Laboratory and a clinical position in the Pulmonary Division.  From 1900 to 1991, Dr. Voelkel was on sabbatical studying clinical pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Author or co-author of 285 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Voelkel currently holds NIH grants in the areas of biomarkers in COPD, primary pulmonary hypertension, and endothelial cell death in smoking-induced emphysema.  He has received numerous international honors and awards, sits on several major committees in his field,  is a reviewer for the NEMJ and other noted journals, and been a visiting professor or invited lecturer throughout Europe and North America, as well as in Asia and South America