A Message from the Chief

Michelle Ng Gong, M.D., M.S.

Michelle Ng Gong, M.D., M.S.Faculty ProfileResearch Profile

The Montefiore Einstein Divisions of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine have a long-standing history of providing much needed care to the underserved population in the Bronx. We have come a long way from being pioneers in TB diagnosis and management at the historic tuberculosis care unit at Van Etten hospital to developing the unique concept of ‘ICU without walls’, in order to provide rapid bedside care to acutely ill patients and to improve clinical outcomes.

Today with over 125 full-time faculty physicians, physician assistants, and staff, the Montefiore Einstein Divisions of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine are recognized as national leaders in clinical care delivery and operation, research, and education. In addition to their board certification and expertise in critical care medicine, all of our faculty physicians have received additional training or certification in pulmonary medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, infectious diseases, nephrology, surgery, transplantation, palliative care medicine, bioethics, and neuro-critical care medicine. This multidisciplinary team provides critical care at the bedside in seven intensive care units and two intermediate care units specialized to care for patients with medical, surgical, cardiothoracic, and neurologic injuries and conditions. Our Critical Care Consult team is available 24/7 to provide critical care expertise and resuscitation to any patient in the hospital whenever and wherever it is needed.

At the Montefiore Einstein Lung Center, we provide comprehensive and exceptional care by combining clinical experience, state-of-the-art technology, cutting-edge treatment, and research. Our centers and programs in asthma, COPD, cough, bronchiectasis, interventional pulmonary, pulmonary hypertension, and sleep disorders provide individualized patient care using a multidisciplinary model that also involves cardiologists, allergists, immunologists, rheumatologists and infectious disease specialists. Most recently, we added a COVID-19 Recovery Clinic (CORE) and a Critical and Acute Illness and Recovery Engagement (CAIRE) Clinic to evaluate, diagnose, and manage the long terms effects of acute and critical illnesses from COVID-19 and other conditions.

The Montefiore Einstein Division of Critical Care Medicine is active nationally and internationally in research in areas such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute respiratory failure, sepsis, long term outcomes after critical illness, post-intensive care syndrome, delirium, healthcare delivery science, quality improvement, informatics, and predictive analytics in acute organ failure and critical illness. Research within the Montefiore Einstein Division of Pulmonary Medicine historically has been physiologically and clinically oriented with faculty publishing seminal papers on hypoxia, cough, and environmental lung disease. Currently, our research areas include lung cancer diagnostics and management, asthma epidemiology, outcomes, and biomarkers, pulmonary infections (HIV, TB, nontuberculous mycobacteria, COVID-19), and airway interventional device trials. The Pulmonary Lab inhabits Einstein's spectacular Price Center for Genomic & Translational Medicine, where work on generating novel noninvasive molecular approaches are aimed at tracking early lung disease processes such as carcinogenesis and inflammation, in healthy humans. The NIH, AHRQ, DoD and CMS fund the divisions for clinical trials and projects aimed at improving outcomes in patients with acute critical illness and pulmonary diseases.

The divisions are also dedicated to training the next generation of leaders, educators and physician-scientists in academic medicine. In addition to clinical fellowship programs (pulmonary and critical care medicine and critical care medicine) for physicians, there is a physician assistant residency program to provide critical care-specific training to physician assistants interested in the field. Our attendings are actively sought to serve as faculty members for professional courses in critical care ultrasound, cardiothoracic critical care and lung cancer by national professional societies. Many of our faculty members are invited speakers and facilitators in major research and professional meetings on the national and international level for the American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society, and Society of Critical Care Medicine.

As the healthcare system evolves to take care of more seriously ill patients with multiple complex medical problems, the Montefiore Einstein Divisions of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine will continue to lead the way through research, education, and innovation to ensure delivery of high quality, efficient, state-of-the-art care to our patients.

Michelle Ng Gong, M.D.
Chief, Division of Critical Care Medicine
Chief, Division of Pulmonary Medicine
Professor, Department of Medicine (Critical Care)
Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Population Health
Director, Critical Care Research, Department of Medicine