Administrative Contact
Debra Novak-Haas - 734-936-5010
Biography
Robert Dickson received his undergraduate degree in liberal arts from St. John's College, and received his MD from the Duke University School of Medicine. He then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, followed by year as Chief Medical Resident at Harborview Medical Center. He completed his fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan and joined the faculty in 2015. He joined the Department of Microbiology & Immunology in 2019.
Dr. Dickson's research focuses on understanding how microbial communities in the respiratory tract and gut contribute to respiratory illness and health. He uses techniques of microbial ecology and molecular microbiology to understand how the body’s bacteria are altered by lung disease and critical illness, and how they in turn contribute to the pathogenesis of disease. His laboratory performs integrative translational research, spanning from molecular characterization of respiratory microbiota to animal modeling of acute lung disease to prospective trials of human subjects. Areas of clinical interest include the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), sepsis, and pneumonia.
Dr. Dickson is a Senior Editor at Microbiome, a Specialist Editor of European Respiratory Journal, and a member of the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Lancet Respiratory Medicine. His research is funded by the NIH and the European Commission.
As a clinician, Dr. Dickson cares for critically ill patients in the University’s Critical Care Medicine Unit (CCMU) and as Medical Director of the Washtenaw County Tuberculosis Clinic.
Areas of Interest
- Influence of the microbiome on acute and chronic lung disease
- Pathogenesis of the acute respiratory distress syndrome
- Culture-independent methods of bacterial identification in respiratory specimens
Honors & Awards
2021 - Award for Outstanding Contributions to Fellow Research Education, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program, University of Michigan
2021 - Top Reviewer Award, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
2020 - Jerome W. Conn Award for Excellence in Research by a Junior Faculty Member; Department of Medicine, University of Michigan
2019 - Rising Star Award; American Thoracic Society, Science and Innovation Center
2019 - Bruce C. Richardson MD Department of Internal Medicine Early Career Endowment Award
2018 - Special Recognition for Contributions to the House Officer Teaching Program, Internal Medicine Residency Program, University of Michigan
2018 - Top Reviewer Award, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
2017 - H. Marvin Pollard Award for Outstanding Teaching of Residents, Internal Medicine Residency Program, University of Michigan
2017 - Early Career Investigator Award; American Thoracic Society, Assembly for Allergy, Immunology and Inflammation
2017 - Young Physician-Scientist Award; American Society of Clinical Investigation
2016 - Outstanding Educator Award; Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program, University of Michigan