Jonathan Koff, MD

Jonathan Koff, MD, a pulmonary and critical care physician, is director of the Yale Medicine Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program. He chose pulmonary medicine in part because his grandfather had emphysema. “I wanted to better understand how the disease affected him,” he says.

Dr. Koff was drawn to cystic fibrosis, which is usually diagnosed in childhood, because he was intrigued by the complexity of this genetic disease, which causes recurrent lung infections, and digestive and nutritional problems, among other issues. He works with a multidisciplinary team that includes a nurse, a nutritionist, a physical therapist, a social worker, and respiratory therapists. “We continue to see our patients do better clinically with the multidisciplinary team-based care approach,” he says. He is optimistic about new treatments for cystic fibrosis, such as recently approved therapies that target specific genetic mutations.

An associate professor of medicine (pulmonary) at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Koff also works in the medical intensive care unit at Yale New Haven Hospital, and conducts laboratory and translational research that focuses on viral infections in asthma and cystic fibrosis. He serves on the board of the Connecticut Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.