Monica Kraft is an American

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

, medical professor and

researcher Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

. She is the System Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...

and Mount Sinai Health System. She is also the Murray M. Rosenberg Professor of Medicine. Kraft is the recipient of

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

2000.

Education

Kraft received her MD from the University of California in San Francisco, and completed her residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Career

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, Kraft was the Robert and Irene Flinn Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine and Deputy Director of the Asthma and Airways Disease Research Center. At

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, she was former Chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine; the Charles Johnson Distinguished Professor; and Director of the Asthma, Allergy and Airway Center. Kraft has also served as director of the Carl and Hazel Felt Laboratory in Adult Asthma Research and as medical director of the pulmonology physiology unit at the

National Jewish Health National Jewish Health is an American academic hospital/clinic in Denver, Colorado, doing research and treatment in respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders. It is an internationally respected medical center that draws people from man ...

in Denver. Kraft has served as president of the

American Thoracic Society The American Thoracic Society (ATS) is a nonprofit organization focused on improving care for pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders. It was established in 1905 as the American Sanatorium Association, and ...

in 2012 and 2013. As of 2022, Kraft is the System Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Research

Kraft specializes in translational asthma research. Her research centers around

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. GOLD defines COPD as a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory s ...

(COPD), and complex airway disease. The extensive studies done by her and her team on inflammation mechanisms and innate immunity has made contributions to the understanding of airway biology, the development of asthma treatment guidelines, and advancements in precision medicine. She has received a USD 7 million grant from

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

for her research to gain understanding of the mediators responsible for regulating lung inflammation and to develop new therapies that can effectively mitigate severe asthma attacks.

Publications

In addition to writing numerous journal articles, Kraft is an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Medicine, and a former Associate Editor of the European Respiratory Journal and the

American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology The ''American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal and an official publication of the American Thoracic Society. It covers research on the structure and function of the respiratory syst ...

Awards and recognition

* Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers * The American Thoracic Society Distinguished Career Award * The Elizabeth A. Rich Mentorship Award * The American College of Chest Physicians Distinguished Educator Award * Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year

References

American pulmonologists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of California, San Francisco alumni Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers {{improve categories, date=December 2023