Who We Are

The Asthma Program of the Duke Asthma Allergy and Airway Center offers a breadth of collaborations with specialists spanning different divisions and departments.  This is one of the core strengths of the program and offers patients subspecialty expertise in several different areas.

1. Otolaryngology – Duke Skull Base Center
   1. Dr. Ralph Abi Hachem, MD, MSc is an Associate Professor in the Department of Head and Neck and Communication Sciences.  He is the Medical Director of the Duke Skull Base Center and Fellowship Co-Director of Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery
   2. Dr. David Jang, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences and Chief of the Division of Rhinology. He specializes in sinus surgery and leads a number of industry-funded studies on chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis.
2. Otolaryngology – Duke Voice Center
   1. Dr. Alissa Collins, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences.  She is an experiences laryngologist and has helped the Asthma Program with numerous referral for vocal cord dysfunction.  She works closely with several speech language pathologists to manage this conditionally.  Additionally she has been instrumental in helping to develop a protocol at Duke for the real time detection of exercise induced laryngeal obstruction. 
   2. Dr. Seth Cohen, MD is a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Services.  He is the Director of the Duke Voice Care Center, Director of Duke Otolaryngology Clinic of Raleigh and Vice Chair of Clinical Operations.  He specializes in disorders of the upper airway. 
3. Gastroenterology
   1. Dr. David Leiman, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He specializes in the clinical care of patients with eosinophilic esophagitis and other swallowing disorders. He has been involved as a principal investigator in a number of multicenter clinical trials in eosinophilic esophagitis. He developed a brief screening tool to increase identification of potential eosinophilic esophageal in the pulmonary clinic.
   2. Dr. Richard Wood, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Gastroenterology.  He is the program director for Gastroenterology and Hepatology Training Program at Duke.  He specializes in esophageal disorders including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), swallowing disorders and primary esophageal motility disorders.
4. Cardiology/Sports Medicine/Exercise Physiology – Cardiac Diagnostic Unit
   1. Dr. William E. Kraus, MD is A Richard and Pat Johnson University Distinguished Professor, and Member of Duke Molecular Physiology Institute. He is trained clinically as an internist and preventive cardiologist, with particular expertise in preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation with a focus in sports medicine.  He serves a referral source for many athletes who need more comprehensive pulmonary testing.
   2. Brian Coyne is a Clinical Operations Supervisor of the Cardiopulmonary Testing Laboratory within the Cardiac Diagnostic Unit who has been instrumental in assisting with customized protocols to aid in the detection of exercise induced bronchoconstriction for cycle ergometer and treadmill testing in trained and untrained individuals.  He ensures the protocols adhere to American Thoracic Society Guidelines and manages a group of exercise physiologists who conduct the tests.  This is the primary lab that is utilized for exercise bronchoprovocation challenge testing in athletes.
5. Rheumatology
   1. Dr. Teresa Tarrant, MD is an Associate Professor in the Rheumatology and Immunology and primarily supports our clinic by seeing patients with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis.  She also sees patients with multiple complex immune disorders with particular expertise in autoimmune and Rheumatoid arthritis, primary Sjogren's syndrome, and the immunodeficiency disoders Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID), Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency (ADA) disorders, and WHIM (Warts, Hypogammaglobulinemia, Infections, and Myelokathexis)
   2. Dr. Catherine Sims, MD is a Clinical Associate in Rheumatology and Immunology and supports our clinic by seeing patients with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

6. Sleep Medicine
   1. Dr. Wissam Mansour, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.  He provides comprehensive clinical care to our patients with complex sleep needs.
   2. Steven Taxman, PA-C, MHS is a Physician Assistant in the Division of Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care who has been with Duke Health since 1997 and cares for patients with sleep apnea.  He has spent a number of those years working directly in the Duke Asthma Allergy and Airway Center until the sleep medicine program relocated to an off-site clinic. 

7. Endocrinology
   1. Anica Land is a Nurse Practitioner in the Division of Endocrinology under the supervision of Dr. Sona Sharma MD who primarily assists our program with managing patients secondary adrenal insufficiency from long term corticosteroid usage who are ready for steroid withdrawal due to improved control with asthma biologics.