Dr. Diaz is Battelle Professor of Inhalational Therapeutics in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. He serves as Director of Clinical Research as well as Director of COPD programs for The Division. He is also Medical Director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation for The OSU Wexner Medical Center. He has a long track record of NHLBI funded research involving the study of smoking-related lung disease and has served as site PI in large NIH-funded multicenter investigations involving COPD, including the National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT) and the Long Term Oxygen Treatment Trial (LOTT). He has a particular interest in smoking-related lung disease in the setting of HIV infection and is currently investigating BAL extracellular vesicles as biomarkers for accelerated lung destruction in this setting.