Dr. Edward L. Salerno, MD, FCCP, a nationally recognized, board-certified pulmonologist and critical-care specialist, has joined Northern Regional Hospital to provide medical leadership for the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and all pulmonary programs.
Among the areas he’ll be working in or overseeing are the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, a planned outpatient Pulmonary Care Clinic, and an expanded Sleep Medicine program.
Dr. Salerno’s experience includes more than 15 years of pulmonary/critical-care medicine in a variety of clinical settings, including Hartford Hospital, a major teaching hospital in Hartford, Connecticut; and, more recently, Millennium Physicians, an independent physicians’ group in Naples, Florida.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Salerno to our medical staff,” said Chris A. Lumsden, FACHE, president and CEO of Northern Regional Hospital. “His extensive knowledge and experience in pulmonary and critical-care medicine will permit us to further enhance and expand our patient-care capabilities in those areas; as well as treat and more efficiently transition respiratory-distressed patients as we, along with all hospitals across the nation, continue to see significant surges in patient volume due to the current COVID pandemic.
“We look forward to working with Dr. Salerno as we continue to achieve our mission priority of providing access to high-quality care for all patients,” added Lumsden.
“During my recent visit, I was immediately impressed with the sense of community and camaraderie among the hospital staff – all of whom help one another so that patients get the best possible care,” Dr. Salerno said. “I’m also excited about the hospital leadership’s vision for expanding its pulmonary programs and services, including the use of advanced testing to measure airway inflammation and exploring the need for an in-house sleep program to further address the epidemic of sleep apnea.”
Having treated scores of patients with COVID-19 and related respiratory complications, Dr. Salerno is adamant about the need for people to follow the CDC-recommended guidelines for protecting themselves and others – which include wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing, self-quarantining as appropriate, and getting vaccinated. “We need to work together to confront this pandemic,” he said. “When it comes to the vaccine, I try and educate patients on the science of it – so they understand and trust that it is safe and effective. I will get it.”
Dr. Salerno graduated cum laude in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. “As an undergrad, I was pre-med and, when I had to pick a major, everyone else chose biology or chemistry, but I wanted something that would really interest me, which was philosophy,” Salerno said. “I’ve since learned that having that background has helped me in one aspect of my work – which is helping families deal with very difficult end-of-life decisions that oftentimes arise in the ICU. In an intensive-care environment, it’s especially important for physicians to remember they have two patients: one, in the bed; the other, family members sitting beside the bed who need guidance and support.”
On the heels of his undergraduate studies, Salerno enrolled in medical school at St. George’s University School of Medicine, in Granada, West Indies. “It was a great experience. The program required students to use their newly-acquired clinical skills to reason and think through a problem, rather than rely on computers and databases,” said Salerno. “It also opened my eyes to the dramatic differences between American and third-world medical care. Here, we’re privileged and have everything such as CAT scans, MRIs, etc. There, patients who were admitted had to bring their own bed sheets, and their families have to wash and care for them.”
Following his graduation from medical school in 2000, he returned to the States to pursue advanced medical training at Hartford Hospital and other healthcare facilities affiliated with the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. After completing an internship and three-year residency program in internal medicine, he served as Chief medical resident at the 938-bed acute-care Hartford Hospital. He then completed a three-year fellowship program in pulmonary/critical-care medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center.
Dr. Salerno is board-certified in Internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, critical care medicine, and sleep medicine, and is a Fellow in the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr. Salerno has earned many honors and awards (including the Aldo Bellucci Excellence in Teaching Award and the Maxwell O Phelps Award for Scholarship); and he is a contributor to numerous research studies, abstracts and retrospectives, many of which have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
Dr. Salerno and his wife, Mary, a former corporate executive who has transitioned into real estate, are enthusiastic about becoming part of the extended Mount Airy community. As part of their combined family, the Salernos frequently enjoy the company of two daughters (Erin and Kristen); a son Eddie, and two young grandchildren – 5-year-old Benjamin and 16-month-old Landry.
Dr. Edward Salerno will serve patients at the Northern Cardiology office located at 708 S. South Street in Mount Airy. For more information call 336-783-8998.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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