The professorship was established in 1985 and is supported by funding from medical school alumni and former house staff.

"Julio is just the right person to be named to this position because of his commitment to scholarship, to education, to clinical care and to citizenship in this medical center," said Alan L. Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and head of the Department of Pediatrics. "It is rather unusual that someone like Julio who has made a major commitment of time and energy to the busy clinical services of intensive-care medicine also can find the energy and intellectual commitment to pursue research into the fundamental causes of disease."

Schwartz, who held the position from 1987-1997, added, "The alumni endowed professorship holds a very special place in my heart, and I am pleased to see Julio receive this honor."

In his research, Pérez Fontán studies the effect of denervation, or loss of nerves, on the function of airways in the lungs. By studying mice with transplanted airway tissue, Pérez Fontán and his colleagues provide insight into how the lungs adapt to the absence of these nerves in their ability to respond to a variety of inflammatory stimuli. This work could lead to new therapies for airway inflammation after lung transplantation or for stretch injury after mechanical ventilation.

"Dr. Pérez Fontán's research will provide important insights into mechanisms of lung injury after lung transplantation and should contribute to further improvement in outcome of this important patient population," said F. Sessions Cole, M.D., the Park J. White M.D. Professor of Pediatrics and vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics.

Pérez Fontán's clinical responsibilities include directing pediatric intensive care services for St. Louis Children's Hospital. In this capacity, he oversees the pediatric intensive care unit as well as other inpatient areas involving cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, and heart and lung transplantation services.

A native of Spain, Pérez Fontán earned a bachelor's degree in 1971 from Colegio Marista Santa Maria in Orense, Spain, and a medical degree in 1977 from Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Santiago in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. After a pediatric residency in Barcelona, he completed a fellowship in pediatric critical care and pulmonary medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and held faculty positions at that institution and at Yale University School of Medicine.

He joined the medical school in 1992 as associate professor of pediatrics and anesthesiology and became a professor in 1998. He has directed the Pediatrics Department's Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine since 1992 and has served concurrently as interim director of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology since last year.