Pulmonary pathologist Dr. Lucian Radu Chirieac will testify for the defense in Nikki Pooshs’ case against tobacco companies. Pooshs has sued Phillip Morris as well as other tobacco companies after being diagnosed with lung cancer. She argues that the manufacturers hid health hazards and the addictive nature of their products.
Pooshs’ legal team tried to exclude Dr. Chirieac’s testimony but California U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ruled the objection was filed too late. The pulmonary expert is an Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Associate Pathologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Chirieac is also a member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center which conducts research on the causes and pathogenesis of lung cancer.
Program members (approximately 60 researchers in total) are based in multiple institutions, departments, and disciplines and have expertise in smoking cessation, genetic susceptibility to tobacco smoke, the genetic changes in lung cancer, mRNA expression patterns, and novel therapeutic approaches, including pre-clinical modeling, conducting clinical trials of novel therapies, and characterization of acquired resistance.
The University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences publishes a list of the changes that happen to the lungs and airways of a smoker. These include:
The lungs’ cleaning system not work well.
The lungs age faster and can be destroyed.
Cigarette smoke has chemicals that can make normal cells change into cancer cells.
Pulmonary medical professionals treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma as well as mesothelioma and lung cancer. Expert witnesses in this field may consult and testify on causation and standard of care.
