Interstitial Lung Disease


Welcome to the Interstitial Lung Disease Program at the University of Florida. We pride ourselves in providing comprehensive state-of-the-art care to patients with difficult-to-treat Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILD). We are the only academic ILD Program in northern Florida and provide hope to thousands of patients in Florida and the neighboring states of Georgia and Alabama.

The UF Interstitial Lung Disease Program is run by a dedicated group of pulmonary physicians who specialize in the care of this complex patient population. Our team includes rheumatologists, pulmonary hypertension physicians, lung transplant physicians, chest radiologists, thoracic surgeons, and pulmonary pathologists, with the collaborative support of physiotherapists, nutritionists, respiratory therapists and other staff.

Our center is accredited by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF), World Association for Sarcoidosis, and other Granulomatous diseases (WASOG), and Rare Lung Diseases foundations.

We are an academic program dedicated to improving the lives of patients with Interstitial Lung Diseases by providing state-of-the art medical care, education, and cutting-edge research.

Our Mission:

  • To provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art, multi-disciplinary care for patients with Interstitial Lung Diseases.
  • To provide cutting-edge research in the field of Interstitial Lung Disease in an endeavor to identify and develop new treatment strategies for these difficult-to-treat diseases.
  • To provide hope, support, and education to the patients and their families.
  • To act as a resource and to educate non-specialist physicians in the management of Interstitial Lung Diseases.

Interstitial Lung Diseases and Pulmonary Fibrosis

ILDs, referred to as “diffuse parenchymal lung diseases” in the medical literature and “pulmonary fibrosis” colloquially, are a heterogeneous category of over 200 individual diseases that causes various degrees of inflammation and scarring in the lungs.

Conditions We Treat:

Most patients referred to our clinic carry the diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a distinct disease in the category of interstitial lung diseases. As part of our evaluation, we reassess and revise prior diagnoses, and after the evaluation, about 20% of our patients carry the diagnosis of IPF. This distinction is very important, because different diseases have different outcomes and requires different therapies. Other diseases we encounter include:

Autoimmune lung diseases:  lung inflammation or scarring that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the lungs. Examples of these illnesses include:

  • ILD due to scleroderma
  • ILD associated with muscle inflammation, including the anti-synthetase syndrome
  • ILD due to rheumatoid arthritis
  • Interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF)

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis:  lung inflammation or scarring that occurs when the body over-reacts to harmless inhaled materials. Examples of hypersensitivity pneumonitis include:

  • Hypersensitivity pneumonitis from exposure to birds
  • Hypersensitivity pneumonitis from exposure to fungi
  • Hypersensitivity pneumonitis from exposure to farming environments
  • Hypersensitivity pneumonitis from exposure hot-tubs, humidifiers, or de-humidifiers

Smoking-related interstitial lung diseases: The most common diseases caused by smoking are lung cancer, emphysema, and narrowing of heart arteries. Less commonly, smoking can cause ILD, including:

  • Respiratory bronchiolitis-interstitial lung disease (RBILD)
  • Desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP)
  • Pulmonary Langerhan cell histiocytosis (PLCH, previously called eosinophilic granuloma or histiocytosis X)

Sarcoidosis:

  • is a disease of unknown cause that causes a characteristic form of inflammation and scarring called “granulomatous inflammation”. Although sarcoidosis can affect many parts of the body, the lungs and the lymph nodes in the chest are involved in over 90% of patients.

Lung scarring caused by inhaling inorganic dusts: These include:

  • ILD caused by exposure to fine sand (silicosis)
  • ILD caused by exposure to asbestos (asbestosis)

ILD caused by exposure to some medications or as a result of exposure to radiation:

ILD of unknown cause: Examples in this group include:

  • Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)
  • Non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP)
  • Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP)
  • Lymphocytic Interstitial Pneumonia (LIP)
  • Obliterative bronchiolitis obliterans (OB)
  • Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage syndromes (DAH)
  • Eosinophilic pneumonias
  • Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)
  • Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis
  • Pleuropulmonary fibroelastosis

For more information, call 352-273-8740

The UF Health Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) Clinic is held every Tuesday and Friday from 8a.m. – 5 p.m. in the UF Health Medical Plaza building, 2000 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32610. We are located on the 3rd Floor in the Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties Clinic.


During Your Visit

The UF Health Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) clinics are held on Tuesdays & Fridays from 8 – 5 p.m. in the UF Health Medical Plaza building, 2000 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32610. We are located on the 3rd Floor in the Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties Clinic

What to bring:

  • Insurance authorization.
  • Completed “Pulmonary Medicine Patient Questionnaire” that will be mailed to you.
  • The name and address of your referring physician, so that we communicate with him or her
  • Records from your referring doctor Reports of any blood tests you have had
  • CD containing all the images of your chest CT scans – it is very important that we look at these images ourselves
  • If you have had a lung biopsy, the tissue block and slides of the sample taken. Again, it is very important that we look at the biopsy ourselves.

 What to expect during the visit:

  • CT scan, pulmonary function tests, and 6 minute hall walk test will be done first
  • A consultation with a rheumatologist if you have an autoimmune disorder.
  • Consultation with an ILD physician.
  • If necessary, we will arrange for consultations with
    • a pulmonary hypertension
    • Evaluation by a physiotherapist
    • Evaluation by thoracic surgery for surgical lung biopsy
    • Evaluation by the lung transplant team