Thomas E. Hartman, M.D.

The primary research interests of Thomas E. Hartman, M.D., are chronic infiltrative lung diseases, lung cancer screening and atypical mycobacterial infections.

Focus areas

• Chronic infiltrative lung diseases. Dr. Hartman is involved in descriptive studies of these various diseases, as well as collaborative efforts with pulmonologists and pathologists, including a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant as a co-principal investigator in the Lung Tissue Research Consortium (LTRC).
• Lung cancer screening. Dr. Hartman is primarily focused on CT, and he's been a co-principal investigator on two NIH-funded research studies. One was a study performed at Mayo Clinic, while the other was part of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST).
• Atypical mycobacterial infections. In this area, Dr. Hartman's interest is primarily on the imaging presentations of atypical mycobacterial lung disease, particularly mycobacterium avium intracellulare complex disease.

Significance to patient care

Results from the LTRC are being used to develop computer-aided diagnosis algorithms for interstitial lung disease and pulmonary nodule evaluation.

In addition, results from the NLST showed that low-dose CT screening in high-risk individuals can significantly reduce lung cancer mortality.