New director of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine announced

Dee Ford, M.D., MSCR, professor of medicine, has been appointed director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), effective Feb 1. Ford joined the MUSC pulmonary faculty in 2005 and has been serving as the interim division director since November 2019.

“Dr. Ford has demonstrated exceptional leadership, thoughtful academic vision and insight while serving in the interim capacity during an unprecedented global pandemic due to COVID-19,” said Ben Clyburn, M.D., interim chair of the Department of Medicine. “Her extensive experience, skill sets, and leadership qualities will ensure the division continues to move forward in significant ways.”

Ford is a physician scientist and leader in critical care medicine with expertise in health services research, health professional education, and quality improvement. Her clinical and research interests are focused on different aspects of critical care, with an emphasis on telemedicine, health disparities, and implementation of best practices. Ford is widely recognized for her collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to improving the care of critically ill patients and their families. Her efforts are characterized by novel program development and implementation, elevating performance to better meet patient/family needs, and facilitating the professional development of others.

During her career at MUSC, Ford has held numerous leadership positions, including her current role as the medical director for MUSC’s Tele-ICU and ICU Innovations Outreach Programs. She has developed a regional and national reputation as an outstanding researcher, mentor, and leader in the field of population health. Ford has maintained a track record of continuous extramural research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and others, and currently serves as program director for MUSC’s HRSA-Funded Telehealth Center of Excellence, one of only two National Telehealth Centers of Excellence in the country.

Ford has mentored over two dozen faculty, trainees and staff, and was awarded the 2019 Department of Medicine Faculty Mentoring Award. Most recently, Ford received the 2020 Population Health Award from the Medical University of South Carolina Foundation for her outstanding contributions to improving the health of the state of South Carolina. Nationally, she has served on a number of leadership committees for both the American Thoracic Society and the American College of Chest Physicians.

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford has provided critical institutional leadership with regards to all aspects of MUSC’s response to COVID-19, including ICU surge planning, mounting MUSC’s rapid telehealth response to ensure continuity of care, establishing three COVID ICU units, and building clinical practice guidelines for managing COVID-19.

Ford is from Anderson, South Carolina, and received her BS in biology from the University of South Carolina where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. Ford completed her internal medicine residency training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and her pulmonary/critical care fellowship training at the Medical University of South Carolina.