Research Focus Clinical & translational research in ARDS I continue to study factors that influence fluid balance in the acutely injured lung, particularly as it relates to hypo-oncotic acute lung injury patients. This spans a spectrum from observational and controlled clinical trials to comparative physiology to translational biochemistry of pharmaceutical therapies. I began working in this field in the 1990s, first demonstrating an independent association between protein osmotic pressure and physiologic fluid handling capabilities, the risk of developing ARDS, and clinically important outcomes. Our group subsequently completed three randomized, blinded, controlled clinical trials testing strategies to favorably influence lung fluid balance and lung function, each demonstrating the superiority of combination colloid and diuretic therapy over diuretic therapy alone for improving oxygenation and systemic hemodynamics. Epidemiology and health services research in sepsis I work in the field of critical care health services research, particularly as it pertains to disparities in the risk and outcome of sepsis. Sepsis has been recognized as a clinical entity for more than a thousand years, but it was first defined in modern healthcare in 1992, which facilitated studies on sepsis epidemiology. In conjunction with colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), I lead the development of methods for studying the epidemiology of sepsis on both a national and a longitudinal scale. Our assessment was the first large-scale study of sepsis epidemiology in the world, particularly to demonstrate secular trends in the incidence and outcome, and also to examine important healthcare disparities that exist in the condition. Development and validation of medical devices and point-of-care technologies Extending our work in biomarkers, disease pathogenesis and monitoring of critically ill patients, we have led studies with invasive and non-invasive medical devices and developed the NIH-funded national Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME POCT) for validating and accelerating the market potential of point-of-care devices in broad populations of patients in both traditional healthcare settings and directly with consumers.