Pediatric Asthma Center

Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease of childhood. In the United States, asthma affects approximately 5.5 million children and leads to over half a million visits to the Emergency Department. For reasons that are insufficiently understood, the burden of childhood asthma is greater in African Americans and Puerto Ricans than in non-Hispanic whites. 

The Pediatric Asthma Center fosters multidisciplinary research on the causes of asthma and health disparities in asthma. Our collaborative and highly productive team conducts basic, population-based, and patient-oriented research, including work in molecular biology, lung immunology, genetics and epigenetics, and epidemiologic studies of environmental and lifestyle factors such as diet, obesity, chronic psychosocial stress, and air pollution, particularly in underserved minority populations. 

Located within UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, the Center’s faculty and programs are part of the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 

Led by director Erick Forno, MD, MPH, the Pediatric Asthma Center supports a group of creative and talented PhD scientists and physician-scientists and their teams.  Their innovative and impactful research will improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of asthma for all children in western Pennsylvania, the U.S., and worldwide.