PNHP

Brenda J. Butka, MD, MA

Brenda J. Butka, MD, MA

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Dr. Brenda Butka is a retired pulmonologist in Nashville. Prior to retirement, she was director of the pulmonary program at Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, and assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University in the division of allergy, pulmonary, and critical care medicine.

Dr. Butka has worked as an intensivist at Nashville General Hospital and as medical director of the progressive respiratory care unit at St. Thomas Hospital. She was medical director of the respiratory therapy department at both hospitals. Her special interests include long-term ventilation, both invasive and non-invasive, and the pulmonary problems of patients with neuromuscular diseases.

Dr. Butka received her undergraduate degree from Andrews University, Michigan, and a masters degree from the University of Michigan. She earned her medical degree from Emory University and completed internal medicine residency and pulmonary fellowship at Vanderbilt.

Henry Abrons, MD, MPH

Henry Abrons, MD, MPH

Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

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Dr. Hank Abrons is a physician in Berkeley, CA who retired from the faculty at Highland Hospital (Alameda County Medical Center). He was previously associate professor of Medicine at West Virginia University, where his research focused on epidemiology, physiology, and clinical features of occupational lung disease. His clinical practice focused on critical care, chronic lung disease, and cystic fibrosis. Prior to his appointment at WVU, Dr. Abrons worked for three years in the U.S. Public Health Service.

He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College, medical degree from Case Western Reserve University, and masterā€™s degree from the University of Illinois. He is past-president of the California chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, served on PNHPā€™s board of directors, and is a member of the national advisory board.

Philip A. Verhoef, MD, PhD, FAAP, FACP

Philip A. Verhoef, MD, PhD, FAAP, FACP

Critical Care Medicine

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Dr. Phil Verhoef is an adult and pediatric intensivist and clinical associate professor of medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. As president of PNHP, Dr. Verhoefā€™s commentary has appeared in numerous national news outlets.Ā 

Dr. Verhoef completed medical and graduate training at Case Western Reserve University, followed by residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at UCLA and subspecialty ICU fellowship training at the University of Chicago. He has led an NIH-funded research lab studying the immunology of sepsis in the ICU; his scientific work has been published in Nature, PNAS, AJRCCM, AJRCMB, JCI-Insight, and the Journal of Immunology. Dr. Verhoef is interested in improving the care of septic patients through a precise understanding of their immune systems in response to infection, using a range of translational and ā€œbig dataā€ methodologies.

Adam Gaffney, MD, MPH

Adam Gaffney, MD, MPH

Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

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Dr. Adam Gaffney. is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a health policy researcher, and a writer and commentator on issues of medicine and policy.

His research focuses on national health care reform, health care equity, and disparities in lung health. Dr. Gaffney has authored or co-authored more than 60 journal articles, with first-author publications in such journals as the Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal, JAMA Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, the American Journal of Public Health, and elsewhere. He is also the author of the book ā€œTo Heal Humankind: The Right to Health in History,ā€ published in 2017 by Routledge.

A past-president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), Dr. Gaffney is also a frequent writer on matters of health care and policy, and has published articles in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, New Republic, USA Today, and the Boston Globe. He is also a frequent media guest, and has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, Fox Business News, the BBC, and elsewhere.

Dr. Gaffney received his medical degree from New York University and his MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed his residency at the Columbia University Medical Center, where he served as chief resident, and his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Womenā€™s Hospital, and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.