Asthma presently effects 6% of the American population,
or close to 17 million individuals. The number of people
afflicted with asthma in New York City is even higher,
reaching up to 25% among children in some
neighborhoods. The John Edsall/John Wood Asthma
Center was established in 1998 under the generous
support of Mr. Robert Berkley to provide comprehensive,
state of the art care to individuals with asthma and allergy.
This multi-disciplinary, patient-oriented Center was
conceived by leading investigators and clinicians at The
New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia Medical
Center. Patients treated at the John Edsall/John Wood
Asthma Center benefit from the talent, expertise and
compassion of physicians who follow in the footsteps of
the outstanding physicians for whom the Center is named,
Dr. John Edsall and Dr. John Wood. They also benefit from
the Center's strong focus on patient education and the
advantages of a major academic medical center with rapid
access to the latest research breakthroughs for prevention
and treatment of asthma.

The Center is one-of-a-kind in the region, combining
research and education with one stop asthma care. The
Center provides the infrastructure for patient participation
in a variety of research trials. Clinical trials focus on the
controlled testing of new drugs and combinations of drugs
for the treatment of asthma, as well as studies of the
molecular basis of the disease. Clinicians and scientists
from the Center have been awarded grant support from the
NIH and other agencies to focus on patient education and
on research to learn more about the causes of asthma. The Center is presently participating in Networks supported by the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Center and the NIH supported Asthma Clinical Research Network. Both of these prestigious Networks have been established for the purpose of multi-center clinical studies in asthma.