Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is the third leading cause of death globally — with almost 400 million cases worldwide. In the U.S., approximately 16 million people have COPD, and it’s estimated that an equal number of people do not realize they have it.

Look up COPD, and the first thing you see is that there is no cure. 

“The fact that we accept that limits our vision for what we can do for this disease,” says pulmonologist Robert Wise, the inaugural recipient of the Dorney-Koppel Foundation and Robert A. Wise, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Endowed by Grace Anne Dorney-Koppel and her husband, journalist Ted Koppel, it is the first professorship in the United States dedicated exclusively to COPD research, treatment and pulmonary rehabilitation. 

Over his 44-year career at Johns Hopkins, Wise has shaped how COPD is understood and treated. He has led major clinical trials investigating early screening and aggressive smoking cessation interventions, surgery, medications and pulmonary rehabilitation. However, Wise prefers to focus on the future and looks to colleagues like pulmonologist Enid Neptune, whose research into lung regeneration, he believes, will be one of the keys to curing COPD.

Neptune’s lab is testing different combinations of existing drugs targeting biological pathways that activate lung regeneration. “Our concept is to marry the elimination of pathological inflammation and at the same time provide the incentives that are needed to construct the lung,” Neptune says.

Wise and Neptune are optimistic about making inroads toward curing COPD in the next decade. “To develop a totally new drug takes a very long time,” Neptune says. “By using drugs that are already approved and considered safe, we are able to save an incredible number of years in drug development. There are tens of thousands of FDA drugs available for exploration.”

Finding a cure will require connecting results in the lab with data from the clinic, a role suited to Wise, who brings unparalleled clinical knowledge and a big-picture understanding of what is possible in the lab. Wise and his colleagues are applying precision medicine approaches to define drivers of the disease, including environmental exposures beyond tobacco smoke, and to identify treatable traits for individuals with COPD, which may inform new therapies worldwide.

Collaboration is essential. Neptune is an organizer of COPD-iNET, an international group of experts with a mission to explore new research and therapies to end COPD. “We need to have all the critical components of the research world talking to each other and coming up with the exciting ideas we can all pursue,” Neptune says. One goal is to get 10 drugs in the pipeline in the next 10 years.

Grace Anne Dorney-Koppel was diagnosed with COPD in 2001 and treated by Wise. She got to know him as his patient and through her advocacy leading the COPD Foundation and the Dorney-Koppel Foundation.

“There is hope that this can be cured,” Dorney-Koppel says. “And I believe that Hopkins is the place where that can happen, with Robert A. Wise leading the charge.”

The Koppels want to ensure that any successor will have a career dedicated to COPD. So, it is fitting that Wise’s name is included in the professorship’s title. “We felt his dedication should be memorialized,” Dorney-Koppel says. “Dr. Wise’s name is there because he is the one who is going to implement this vision, give it its first start and send it forward.”

“It is truly the greatest honor of my life,” Wise says. “It’s really a charge to carry on the mission — the care and the cure.”

The COPD Discovery Fund, supported by many small gifts, provides funding for young researchers to explore innovative COPD research. To make a gift: Bit.ly/JHMCOPD