Peter Pare
During his 36 years in Vancouver, Dr. Pare’s work in the pathophysiology of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has established UBC as one of the world’s premier scientific centres in lung disease.
His work has increased understanding of small airways, and in particular the mechanics underlying airway narrowing, through studies published in such high-impact journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Review of Respiratory Disease, and the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology.
Using a collection of tissue samples that he and James Hogg conceived and assembled, he systematically uncovered the relationships between structure and function in asthma and COPD. He identified and described the significance of airway geometry and the composition of airway smooth muscle in narrowing. More recently, he led the way in exploring the genetic underpinnings of lung diseases and the interplay between genetics and the environment in causing or exacerbating asthma and COPD.
That work has led to more than 400 publications, almost 15,000 citations, with more than 30 papers cited over 100 times. He has maintained his prodigious work output, with 60 papers published in the past five years alone. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Respiratory Journal.
Dr. Pare has received several major awards, including UBC’s Killam Research Prize, the Len Hudson Lifetime Achievement Award, the Joseph R. Rodarte Award from the American Thoracic Society, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award and was chosen to give the Christie Memorial Lecture by the Canadian Thoracic Society. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and was a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Distinguished Scholar and a Jacob Churg Distinguished Researcher.
He has twice served as Head of UBC’s Division of Respiratory Health, Associate Director of the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHEOS), Director of the Faculty’s Clinical Investigator Program and Director of the James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research.
“Most importantly, Peter shares ideas generously with others,” wrote Jeffrey M. Drazen, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. “He is a patient and inspiring teacher.”