Max O'Donnell, MD

Critical Care Medicine
Pulmonology
More specialties
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Overview

Dr. O'Donnell's research interests center around global health including tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and severe acute respiratory infections. Current research is centered in South Africa and Uganda with training/education and capacity building work in Ethiopia. Important collaborators include the Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute on TB/HIV (K-RITH), the Jacobs' and Larsen labs at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI). Drug-resistant tuberculosis is an important global public health concern because of increasing incidence, low cure rates, and high reported mortality. Nowhere has this increased incidence generated more concern than in South Africa where interactions between TB and generalized HIV/AIDS epidemics are causing explosive increases in TB incidence and TB case-fatality rates. The most drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), is increasingly prevalent in South Africa. Acute respiratory infections continue to be responsible for approximately 3.9 million deaths worldwide, predominantly in children, without a substantial decrease in estimated mortality over the past 2 decades. In addition, outbreaks of emergent viral respiratory infections with pandemic potential and periodic outbreaks of severe acute respiratory infection caused by vaccine-preventable pathogens continue to threaten global health security.

Areas of Expertise / Conditions Treated

  • Acute Exacerbations of Asthma
  • Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
  • Chronic Lung Disease
  • Emphysema
  • General Pulmonology
  • Intensive Care
  • Lung Nodules
  • Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine
  • Pulmonary Diagnostics
  • Pulmonary Disease
  • Pulmonary Embolism
  • Pulmonary Fibrosis
  • Pulmonary Hypertension
  • Pulmonary Medicine
  • Respiratory Failure
  • Sarcoidosis
  • Sepsis
  • Tuberculosis

Academic Appointments

  • Florence Irving Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Epidemiology
  • Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine

Hospital Affiliations

  • NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center
  • NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital

Gender

  • Male

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Location(s)

177 Ft. Washington Avenue
New York, NY 10032

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BS, 1995 St John's College, Santa Fe, NM
  • MD, 2003 Tufts University School of Medicine
  • MPH, 2003 Tufts University
  • Internship: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center
  • Residency: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center
  • Fellowship: Boston University Affiliated Hospitals

Committees, Societies, Councils

Research Associate, Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)

Editorial Boards

Annals of the American Thoracic Society

BMC Infectious Diseases

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine
  • Critical Care Medicine
  • Pulmonary Disease Medicine

Honors & Awards

Doris Duke Clinical Development Awardee

Gerstner Scholar

Research

Dr. O'Donnell's research interests center around global health including tuberculosis (TB), HIV, severe acute respiratory infections and Covid-19. Current research is centered in South Africa and Uganda with training/education and capacity building work in Ethiopia and Rwanda and Covid-19 research sited in New York City and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Research Interests

  • Global Health
  • Infectious Diseases

Global Health Activities

Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA): Study epidemiology and translational biology of drug resistant TB including co-PI of NIH funded study of adherence with Bedaquiline

East Africa Training Iniitative: Research director for a Pulmonary critical care fellowship based at Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Uganda virus research institute: Co-investigator and collaborator on projects looking at the molecular epidemiology of severe acute respiratory infection and sepsis.

Urban Health Activities

Volunteer Physician NYC DOHMH Fort Greene Chest Clinic: Provide clinical care to patients presenting to city chest clinic in Brooklyn including evaluation and management of tuberculosis. Study access to TB care in the city public health system.