Research
Dr. Casaburi’s research focuses on defining therapies for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and evaluating interventions designed to improve the exercise tolerance of patients with chronic disease.
Biography
Dr. Richard Casaburi completed his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, and then a master’s degree and a doctorate in biomedical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1971) in New York. He traveled to Los Angeles for post-doctoral bioengineering studies at the University of Southern California. Five years after joining the Department of Medicine faculty at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Dr. Casaburi pursued his medical degree at the University of Miami.
Returning to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, he completed clinical training and rejoined the Division of Respiratory Medicine faculty. He served as Division Chief for six years and currently holds the rank of Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Dr. Casaburi established the Rehabilitation Clinical Trials Center in 1999, a clinical research facility dedicated to improving COPD patient’s lives. He and his colleagues have completed more than 80 clinical research studies, including three major NIH multicenter projects. He has presented over 800 invited lectures on respiratory physiology, exercise science, pulmonary rehabilitation, and COPD management. He has published more than 420 papers and 360 abstracts, and his papers have received over 100,000 citations; his h-index is 105.
Dr. Casaburi is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society, European Respiratory Society and American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. He received the 2020 European Respiratory Society Presidential Award for his contributions to respiratory medicine and the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Assembly of the ATS. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the COPD Foundation. He currently serves as co-director of the Exercise Physiology and Respiratory Medicine Institute within The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.