Chronic Airway Infection

The Laboratory of Chronic Airway Infection, led by Dr. Kevin Fennelly, focuses on bronchiectasis, a condition that damages the body's ability to clear mucus from the airways and increases risk of severe lung infections including nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). People with pre-existing lung diseases are particularly vulnerable to infections with these environmental bacteria. Dr. Fennelly hopes to contribute to reducing the impact of such infections by studying common genetic characteristics of the people who suffer from them, defining how the infections lead to disease and complications, and ultimately developing more effective, efficient diagnostic tools and treatments. Dr. Fennelly and his collaborators also seek to address both host and bacterial factors that explain the wide spectrum of bronchiectasis and associated lung infections.

On This Page
Blank Avatar

Senior Investigator Research Interests

Research Interests

Dr. Fennelly is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the NHLBI Natural History of Bronchiectasis protocol, and oversees other protocols studying genetics, diagnostics and therapies in pulmonary NTM disease. Dr. Fennelly had previously led a group of investigators that discovered the first evidence of Mycobacterium abscessus biofilm in a surgically resected lung cavity. The Fennelly lab is now extending that work by studying surgically resected tissue from patients with pulmonary M. avium complex disease. The presence of MAC and other NTM in biofilm is a likely mechanism underlying disease that is refractory to medical therapy and explains the benefit of surgical resection. The team hopes that these advances will improve outcomes for our current and future patients.

Featured Publications

Meet the Team

Blank Avatar

Kevin Fennelly, MD., M.P.H.

Senior Clinician

Dr. Fennelly is trained in both pulmonary medicine and occupational medicine/environmental health, and he developed a fascination with tuberculosis (TB) and other respiratory infections early in his medical career. He led the team that developed a ‘Cough Aerosol Sampling System’ that allows investigators to collect, quantify and size the infectious aerosols generated during coughing by patients with TB. Seminal studies in Uganda, Brazil and South Africa have inspired other investigators to develop other methods of collecting infectious aerosols, e.g., face-mask sampling of SARS-CoV-2 as well as TB. We are now expanding our aerosol research at the NIH Clinical Center to understand the potential infectiousness of Mycobacterium abscessus and other nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), but also as potential non-invasive diagnostic specimens for those unable to produce sputum.