About Bill Eschenbacher, MD
Dr. Bill Eschenbacher is a pulmonary and critical care physician with expertise in pulmonary physiology and occupational and environmental lung diseases.
Career: He received his medical degree from University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas and completed his internal medicine training in Dallas at Parkland Hospital. His pulmonary fellowship was at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco. He has been on the faculties at the University of Michigan and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He then joined the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the Division of Respiratory Disease Studies in Morgantown, WV before moving to NIOSH in Cincinnati, OH. After three years in private practice, he is now working in the medical service at Cincinnati VA Medical Center.
Leadership Positions: During his medical career, he has been director of pulmonary function laboratories at the University of Michigan and at Baylor College of Medicine (The Methodist Hospital in Houston). While at NIOSH, he was the head of the Coal Worker’s X-ray Surveillance Program and the NIOSH B-reader Program (while also being a B-reader himself).
Publications/Research: His completed peer-review publications (over 40 total) have included articles on the respiratory effects of ozone, cold air, particulates and sulfur dioxide, lung disease among nylon flock workers, asbestosis, and basic understanding of the pathophysiology of asthma. To assist in this latter work, he developed a special sampling device that was used to collect material from the airways of human subjects. He has also written about pulmonary physiology including an algorithm for the interpretation of cardiopulmonary exercise tests. His research has included collaborative work with the General Motors Biomedical Research Laboratory (ozone, environmental heat stress, particulates) in Warren, MI.
Professional Organizations: He has been a member of the American Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians (including being Governor for the State of Texas), the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and the American Physiological Society. He has been a member of several national scientific committees (including leadership of the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center) and national research review committees (VA Merit Review).
Prior to medical school, he worked as a research chemical engineer for 5 years in industry (Shell Research and Development Company, Deer Park, TX).