Dr. Gerard Criner earned his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia in 1979. Thereafter he completed his residency training at Temple University Hospital, serving as Chief Medical Resident from 1982-83. Dr. Criner then completed a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship at Boston University School of Medicine. After spending two years at the Baltimore VA Medical Center as Acting Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, he returned to Temple University in the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. In 2015 he became the founding chair of the Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Criner has extensive experience in conducting, designing and leading multicenter trials in capo for the past 25 years. He was the overall study Principal Investigator for Simvastatin for the Prevention of capo Exacerbations (STATCOPE) an international clinical trial (US and Canada) with over 44 clinical sites. He was responsible for the study concept, design, creation of study time points and interventions, recruitment of clinical centers in the U.S. and Canada and led the closure of the study with involvement in data collection, data analysis, quality control and reporting of trial results. He has been involved in multiple NIH steering committees, ad hoc technical panels, and capo work groups over the past 20 years. He has also developed several multicentered trials with industry that includes the use of lung coils (PneumRX), tissue glue (AERIS) and endobronchial valves to reduce hyperinflation in emphysema (LIBERATE, Pulmonx).