Augustine M.K. Choi, MD, is the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) and provost for medical affairs of Cornell University. Prior to his appointment as Dean in January 2017, he served as the Sanford I. Weill Chairman and Professor of Medicine in the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine at WCM and as physician-in-chief of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Choi received his BSc. degree from the University of Kentucky and his MD degree from the University of Louisville. After completing his internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins, he began his academic career in 1990 in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins. In 1998, he moved to an appointment at Yale, and in 2000, he became chief of the division of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2007, he was appointed the Parker B. Francis Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Choi has a longstanding commitment to the training of postdoctoral fellows and physician-scientists in lung diseases. An internationally renowned physician-scientist in the field, he has focused his research on understanding how chronic and acute lung diseases develop in response to molecular, cellular, and genetic triggers. His laboratory studies how oxidative stress and inflammation affect stress response genes and antioxidant enzymes in the lung, and it has contributed much to our understanding of the molecular regulation and function of heme oxygenase-1 and gaseous molecule carbon monoxide in lung and vascular disease. Dr. Choi is currently examining whether inhaled carbon monoxide can be an effective therapy in human disease.
Dr. Choi has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is currently funded by multiple NIH R01 grants and has two program project grants. Among his many awards and honors are the 2011 Ho-Am Prize in Medicine, which is often referred to as the Korean Nobel Prize, and the 2015 J. Burns Amberson Lecture, which recognizes a career of major lifetime contributions to pulmonary research.