Christopher Carlsten – Ex-Officio
Christopher Carlsten
Ex-Officio
As the Director, Dr. Chris Carlsten MD MPH is responsible for providing overall leadership for LAH, particularly through the development and execution of our Strategic Plan, mentoring and supervising key team members, and cultivating relationships with key stakeholders such as UBC and other academic institutions, local and provincial government leaders, non-profits including the BC Lung Association and, most importantly, patients and community advocates.
Dr. Carlsten attended undergraduate and medical school at Stanford University before training in internal, occupational, pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Washington. He is Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of Respiratory Medicine at UBC, and an active respirologist with Vancouver Coast Health. He holds both the Canada Research Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease and also the Astra-Zeneca Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease at the UBC. He is the Director of the Air Pollution Exposure Laboratory, the lead for the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Personalized Health initiative, and holds adjunct positions at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, the UBC School of Population and Public Health and the UBC Centre for Heart Lung Innovation.
The Carlsten laboratory focuses on the respiratory and immunological health effects of inhaled environmental and occupational exposures, using diesel exhaust, western red cedar, wood smoke, and phthalates as model inhalants, in order to inform public health interventions and policy.
As Director of the Occupational Lung Disease Clinic at The Lung Centre (Vancouver General Hospital), Dr. Carlsten welcomes patients with concerns regarding occupational or environmental exposures contributing to respiratory disease — particularly asthma and COPD, but also upper airway disorders, interstitial lung disease, cancer, and pleural disease.
Dr. Carlsten is thrilled to have called Vancouver home since 2007, and is grateful to this vibrant community for fostering an unparalleled setting not only for his professional pursuits but moreover for his family and their passion for engagement within a healthy environment.