Yael Aschner, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine,
University of Colorado
Do you think Dr. Aschner:
- Has visited more foreign countries than U.S. states.
- Met her husband when they were 17 and still in high school.
- Took up skiing in her late 20s, after moving to CO for fellowship.
Give us your “elevator pitch” biography.
I am a physician-scientist trained in pulmonary and critical care medicine. I attended medical school and Internal Medicine residency training at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and then moved to Denver, CO for pulmonary and critical care fellowship at the University of Colorado. I have stayed on as a faculty member at the University of Colorado since completing fellowship. My laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms that underlie the process of fibroproliferation following lung injury. I have been extremely fortunate to obtain funding from the ATS, NIH, the Parker B. Francis Foundation, and the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI). A fun fact is that my mom and I are the only mother-daughter pair of Parker B. Francis awardees. In addition to my time spent in the lab, I attend in the Medical ICU and the Interstitial Lung Diseases clinic at the University of Colorado Hospital. Perhaps most importantly, I am a mom to two amazing daughters, and am married to a wonderful, supportive spouse.
What would you tell yourself as an Early Career Professional?
Looking back, having supportive mentors and other senior individuals who were invested in my success has been a cornerstone of my career development. If I could, I’d remind myself to always make the most of the time we spent meeting together. I’ve been fortunate to have great primary mentors and Division leadership who put my name forward for opportunities I may not have thought to do myself. I’d tell the earlier version of me to put myself out there more on my own.
If you weren’t in medicine, and were in a different industry altogether, what would you be?
I love to travel and enjoy great food. I’m also a huge fan of theme parks (especially Disney)! In a different life, I would get paid to enjoy those things. I might be a travel blogger (preferably in the high-end travel category), or perhaps run one of those insanely detailed websites that tells you all the tips and tricks for how best to tackle a trip to a Disney theme park (and would require many visits there for “research purposes”).
What is your favorite way to spend a day off?
Sleeping late, reading a good book, and enjoying delicious food with my family (preferably cooked by someone else).
What areas of medicine are you most excited to see develop?
The processes of lung injury, repair and fibrosis involve complex interactions between myriad cells of different type, and countless extracellular factors. I am excited to see new tools develop to study these processes in ways that go beyond reductionist techniques and integrate the many intricacies inherent in an organ as complex as the lung.
What is one advancement in your field you’d like to see in your career?
I am hopeful that in the span of my career, real “antifibrotic” therapies will become available for patients with fibrotic lung diseases. While I am grateful that our current therapies exist at all (when I started fellowship, we had little to offer these patients), they are imperfect in so many ways. A therapeutic that can truly reverse fibrosis, and that can make a tangible difference in the symptoms and quality of life for patients with IPF, chronic HP, or even post-COVID fibroproliferation is something that I hope I can someday offer to my patients.
Which statement did you make up?
I didn’t start skiing until my late 30s, and now my kids can ski circles around me!