Joseph P. Lynch III, MED’71

Holt and Jo Hickman Endowed Chair in Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplantation
Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles

 

 

Dr. Joseph P. Lynch III is a world-renowned pulmonary medicine and critical care clinician and an expert in interstitial lung disease, lung transplantation, vasculitis, sarcoidosis, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, and other rare pulmonary diseases, and pulmonary and opportunistic infections. From 1978-2003, Joe rose through the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine faculty ranks at the University of Michigan Medical Center, culminating with his appointment as a professor emeritus. In 1990, Joe and Dr. Michael Deeb (thoracic surgeon) started the Lung Transplant Program at the University of Michigan. Joe served as Medical Director of Lung Transplantation from 1990-2003. He developed a research program in lung transplantation, focusing on mechanisms of lung allograft rejection as well as developments in key clinical areas. He was mentor for several fellows and faculty who later achieved international success in academics in lung transplantation.

 

In October 2003, Joe left Michigan to join the faculty at UCLA as associate chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care Medicine, Allergy and Clinical Immunology and was one of two pulmonologists involved in lung transplantation. Under his leadership, he developed the Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplant Program, resulting in substantial expansion of clinical and research faculty and publications. Further, the annual number of lung transplants expanded from less than 30 to 80-120 (one of the top four programs in volume in the U.S.) Joe is currently the Holt and Jo Hickman Endowed Chair in Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplantation and a distinguished professor of clinical medicine.

 

Since 2001, Joe has been listed in each annual edition of Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors. In 2018, he was selected the Outstanding Clinician by the California Chapter of the American Thoracic Society. His care has been sought by dignitaries with pulmonary illness around the world while his clinical expertise has made him a sought-after expert among his colleagues.. He is a member of the American Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, European Respiratory Society, and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, among others.

 

Joe’s scholarship has helped set the standard of care of advanced lung disease and he has served on numerous advisory boards of pharmaceutical companies trying to develop effective therapies. Since 1997, Joe has been editor-in-chief of Seminars of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He is a prodigious author and lecturer with more than 285 peer-reviewed articles, more than 100 invited articles, and 89 book chapters to his name. He has also edited or co-edited 7 books and served as guest editor for 13 other journals, collecting the best evidence about selected pulmonary topics.

 

Joe is a dedicated teacher and mentor. In 2020, he was honored with the Edward Rosenow Master Teacher Endowed Lectureship at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting. He has endowed eponymous lectures at Dartmouth and Harvard and a fellowship at the University of Michigan. In 2021, to celebrate the Dartmouth Medical School Class of 1971 in honor of their 50th reunion, he established the Joseph P. Lynch III Endowed Scholarship Fund. The fund will benefit medical students at Geisel with financial need.

 

Joe completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard College and pursued his medical degree at Dartmouth Medical School and at Harvard Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

 

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