Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program
MGH-BIDMC Harvard

Peggy Lai

Peggy Lai, MD, MPH

Associate Professor of Medicine

Areas of Expertise: Investigation

Academic Interests

Dr. Lai’s research group (lai-lab.com) focuses on research at the intersection of environmental exposures, the microbiome, and lung disease. Her lab works collaboratively on both U.S. based and global projects spanning the spectrum of translational research, observational studies, and randomized clinical trials. Dr. Lai’s primary appointment is within the Division or Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at MGH. She has secondary appointments in the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit within the Mongan Institute at MGH, the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Lai finds joy in mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists. In 2021 she was nominated for the 2021 Harvard Medical School Excellence in Mentoring award, in 2022 she was the sole awardee for the MGH Department of Medicine Award for Excellence in Resident Scholarship Mentoring, and in 2024 she was the sole awardee for the MGH Department of Medicine Anne Klibanski Excellence in Mentoring Award, indicating recognition for my mentoring of clinician investigators along the scientific pipeline. 

Awards and Recognition

  • David Bates Award, Assembly of Environmental, Occupational, and Population Health, American Thoracic Society (2014)

  • Co-chair, Early Career Working Group, Assembly of Environmental, Occupational, and Population Health, American Thoracic Society (2017 – 2019)

  • Chair, Planning Committee, Assembly of Environmental, Occupational, and Population Health, American Thoracic Society (2020 – 2022)

  • Chair, Program Committee, Assembly of Environmental, Occupational, and Population Health, American Thoracic Society (2022 – 2024)

  • Co-chair, International Health Committee International Conference and Education Working Group (2022 – 2024)

  • Fellow of the American Thoracic Society (2020)

  • Nominee, Brian A. McGovern Award for Clinical Excellence, MGH (2019)

  • Nominee, Harvard Medical School Mentoring Award (2021)

  • Award for Excellence in Resident Scholarship Mentoring, MGH Department of Medicine (2022)

  • Early Career Achievement Award, American Thoracic Society, Assembly on Environmental, Occupational, and Population Health (2022)

  • Anne Klibanski Excellence in Mentoring Award, MGH Department of Medicine (2024)

 

A full list of Dr. Lai's published work can be found on My Bibliography.

More information can be found on Dr. Lai's Harvard Catalyst Profile.

 

 

 

+Current Projects

  • The school microbiome and asthma morbidity in inner-city children (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02291302)
  • Solar lighting intervention trial to reduce household air pollution in rural Uganda (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03351504)
  • One health: Transmission of microbes and antimicrobial resistance genes between humans and chickens. A randomized controlled trial of small-scale chicken farms in rural Uganda (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02619227)
  • Supplemental oxygen and the airway microbiome in people living with cystic fibrosis
  • Critically ill patients with COVID-19