Matthias Salathe

Matthias Salathe, M.D. is a Professor of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center School of Medicine. He currently serves as Department Chair of Internal Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Research at KUMC. Previously, he held leadership positions including division chief of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the University of Miami.

Dr. Salathe received his medical degree from the University of Basel, Switzerland and completed residencies in anesthesiology and internal medicine in Switzerland followed by clinical and research fellowships at the University of Miami. His educational background includes a Post Doctoral Fellowship in Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology.

Dr. Salathe's research focuses on airway diseases with particular emphasis on cilia and mucociliary function, innate airway host defense, and airway ion transport. His laboratory pioneered techniques to measure ciliary beat frequency and fluorescent signals in live cells and established a biorepository of airway epithelial cells from over 600 lungs. His recent work has demonstrated how vaping causes mucociliary dysfunction through TRP channel activation and airway inflammation. His publication record shows consistent contributions to understanding airway physiology, with recent articles focusing on ciliary regulation, mucociliary clearance mechanisms, and the pathophysiology of cystic fibrosis.

Dr. Salathe has maintained continuous NIH funding since 1999, along with support from the State of Florida, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and other organizations. His current research portfolio includes studies on anti-inflammatory therapy for cystic fibrosis, mechanisms of mucociliary dysfunction in cystic fibrosis related diabetes, and TRP-mediated airway inflammation by e-cigarette vaping. He also serves as site-PI for the ACTIV-1 trial studying treatments for COVID-19.

• American Thoracic Society, Fellow (2020-Present)
• Association of Professors of Medicine, Member (2018-Present)
• American College of Physicians, Fellow (2001-Present)
• American Physiological Society, Member (2001-Present)
• American College of Chest Physicians, Fellow (1999-Present)

As an educator, Dr. Salathe developed and taught the respiratory system module at the University of Miami, receiving 11 student awards for excellence in teaching from 2002-2018. He is an active advocate against teen vaping, using his research findings to inform public health policy.