Patrick Nana-Sinkam graduated from Williams College and received his MD from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He completed internal medicine residency and served as chief resident at the University of Michigan and received fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado. Dr. Nana-Sinkam currently serves as the chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. A physician scientist by training, Dr. Nana-Sinkam has focused his research efforts on elucidating the role of non-coding and extracellular RNAs in the pathogenesis of malignant and non-malignant disease of the lung at a fundamental level and as potential clinically informative biomarkers. This investigation has led to some of the earliest observations of microRNAs in conditions such as COPD and Sarcoidosis. Dr. Nana-Sinkam’s laboratory is currently focused on 1) Further understanding the mechanisms by which non-coding RNAs and extracellular vesicles drive lung tumor development and progression. 2) Utilizing genomic and proteomic platforms coupled with computational modeling to identify perturbations of key biological networks critical to tumor development and progression 3) Development of nanoengineering platforms for the non-invasive detection and therapeutic delivery of miRNA in lung disease.