| Mohy G Morris ,
MD, MSc, PhD
|
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences/College of Medicine/Department of Pediatrics |
Pediatric Pulmonology, Arkansas Children’s Hospital |
Phone: (501) 364-5345 |
Research Overview
Dr. Morris’ research activities involve the development and standardization of infant lung function testing (ILFT) and investigate the physiology of lung growth and development in early life. Morris built a unique state-of-the-art infant laboratory at ACH in 1995. There, Dr. Morris has invented new and refined existing techniques and measurements in ILFT. He also patented a novel method for accurately measuring the lung volume in infants. Dr. Morris has been awarded a 5-year NIH grant for his ongoing study to investigate the infant’s lung growth and development and the various wheezing illnesses and asthma in 400 Caucasian and African American infants.
Lung function testing (LFT) is an established mostly standardized routine diagnostic modality for managing lung diseases in older cooperative children and adults but not in infants. Moreover, the lack of normal lung function data in infants also limits our ability to assess changes in lung function with growth and to determine if an infant has a normal lung function or not. Lung diseases such as asthma, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and cystic fibrosis, all of which are associated with abnormal lung function, are present in early life. Unfortunately, our ability to investigate the nature, progress of the early stages of these pulmonary diseases and to quantify their severity as well as the efficacy of early treatment is currently very limited in infants and young children.
When completed, Dr. Morris’ study will 1) establish normative lung function data from two races (African American and Caucasian infants and young children), 2) define the normal lung growth and development in this population, and 3) study wheezy and healthy infants, with the goal of identifying various wheezing illnesses, including asthma that is more often fatal in blacks than whites.
Key Publications
Morris MG (1999): The open circuit nitrogen washout technique for measuring the lung volume in infants: Methodological aspects. Thorax 54:790-95.
Morris MG (1999): A novel noninvasive technique for measuring the residual lung volume by nitrogen washout with rapid thoracoabdominal compression in infants. Thorax54:874-883.
Morris MG (1999): A new technique to measure the effective dead space of the face mask with a water volumeter in infants. Eur Resp J 14:1163-1166.
Morris MG , Gustafsson P, Tepper RS, Gappa M, Stocks J (2001): Standards for Infant Respiratory Function Testing: The bias flow nitrogen washout technique for measuring the functional residual capacity in infants. Eur Resp J 17 : 529–536.
United States Patent, October 23, 2001: Method of measuring residual lung volume in infants. Morris; Mohy G. ( Little Rock, AR).
ATS/ERS Statement: Raised Volume Forced Expirations in Infants. Guidelines for Current Practice. Sooky Lum, Ph.D., Janet Stocks, Ph.D. Robert Castile, M.D., Stephanie Davis, M.D., Matthias Henschen, M.D., Ph.D., Marcus Jones, M.D., Ph.D., Mohy G. Morris, M.D., M.SC., Ph.D., Sarath Ranganathan, M.D., Ph.D., Peter D. Sly, M.B. B.S., M.D., D.SC., Robert Tepper, M.D., Ph.D. Am J Respir Crit Care Med Vol 172. pp 1463–1471, 2005. This article has an online data supplement, which is accessible from this issue’s table of contents at www.atsjournals.org.
*To find additional publications by this author, please visit Pubmed Central, a National Institutes of Health-operated site for electronic distribution of life sciences research reports.
Research Support
National Institutes of Health: Forced expiration and lung volume in infant lung disease