Christopher Carlsten

Dr. Christopher Carlsten is director of the Centre for Lung Health, a professor and head of the Respiratory Medicine Division at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He is a Canada Research Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease and holds the Astra-Zeneca Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease at UBC. He is the director of both the Legacy for Airway Health and the Air Pollution Exposure Laboratory, and also holds adjunct positions at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the UBC School of Population and Public Health. He attended undergraduate and medical school at Stanford University before training in internal, occupational, pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Washington. 
 
Dr. Carlsten’s clinical and research interests center on occupational airways disease, including the effects of diesel exhaust and other inhaled exposures on asthma induction and exacerbation. His laboratory investigates the cardio-pulmonary-immunological health effects of inhaled environmental and occupational exposures, using diesel exhaust, western red cedar and phthalates as model inhalants. Across these domains, he focuses on community-partnered engagement, reducing disparities, and narrowing the gaps between the academic and applied realms of health care, prevention and related policy. As director of the Occupational Lung Disease Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital’s Lung Centre, he welcomes patients with concerns regarding occupational or environmental exposures contributing to respiratory disease including asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disease, cancer and pleural disease.