Dr. Parekh is Chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and his laboratory focuses on the biology of endogenous airway epithelial stem cells in the development of obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) 

following lung transplantation. His R01-funded research investigates the mechanisms by which stem cell niches in the lung are destroyed in the transplanted lung (human and ferret), with the long-term goal of developing autologous stem cell-based therapies for the CF lung transplant. His research program has strong synergies with Dr. Ryan’s research on lung stem cells.