Richard G. Barbers, M.D.

Dr. Richard (Rick) Barbers is the Associate Medical Director of the USC Asthma and Allergy Center and the Medical Director of the USC Lung Transplantation Program and is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He did his residency training at Cedars-Sinai/UCLA Medical Center and his fellowships under an NIH training grant in both Clinical Immunology and Allergy as well as in Pulmonary Medicine at UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Barbers did additional training in lung transplantation medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine. He was an Assistant Professor in the Pulmonary Division at UCLA and the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 1990 he joined the University of Southern California Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as an Associate Professor and is currently a Professor there.

Dr. Barbers had been active in basic research and is currently engaged in clinical and translational research. His previous bench research interests had involved the study of the lung's cellular immune system, in particular, natural killer (NK) cells. More recently, his clinical research interests include a collaborative NIH sponsored effort with William Henderson, MD at the University of Washington, examining remodeling in the airways of asthmatic patients and in the airways and lungs of patients with pulmonary fibrosis. He has several industry supported research projects related to asthma.

He has published extensively in many books and journals (more than 80 manuscripts and abstracts) as well as given several hundred lectures in his area of specialty. Dr. Barbers belongs to several local and national professional societies. He was the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Governor for the Southern California region from 1999 - 2003. He was President for the Los Angeles Society for Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He is the current Vice-President for the California Society of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology.

He has been the Asthma Section Editor for Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine and a reviewer for many journals.