Irina Timofte, M.D.

Irina Timofte, M.D., M.S., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. She specializes in pre- and post-transplant care of patients who have had lung transplants.

Dr. Timofte received her medical degree from the Carol Davila University of Medicine in Bucharest, Romania. She completed internal medicine residency training at the Cleveland Clinic and received fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Florida, and in lung transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh. She then joined the faculty at the University of Maryland (UMD), where she earned a master's degree in epidemiology and clinical research.

At UMD, Dr. Timofte made substantial contributions to the ongoing performance improvement processes, leadership in the clinical setting, and expansion of the transplant clinical service. She reorganized both the inpatient and outpatient Lung Transplant Program structure by developing protocols and guidelines, implementing an inpatient expedited lung transplant work-up, and reorganizing outpatient clinical workflow to improve quality and efficiency. She also played a vital role in growing the outreach and referral basis by more than 50 percent and increasing the University of Maryland Medical Center’s lung transplant volumes by more than 30 percent.

Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in critical care medicine and pulmonary medicine, Dr. Timofte joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2021.

Dr. Timofte's clinical interests include many advanced lung diseases, such as pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), connective tissue-related interstitial lung disease (ILD) (including scleroderma and rheumatoid arthritis-related ILD), pulmonary hypertension, and critical illness.

Dr. Timofte’s research interests mirror her clinical interest and expertise. Her translational research focuses on discovering safer noninvasive diagnostic approaches to evaluate graft integrity and predict lung rejection through the integration of data obtained from cell-free DNA microbiome and microarray analyses. Her research goals are to improve clinical outcomes and develop superior immunosuppressive strategies for patients who have had lung transplants by using a less toxic immunosuppressive regimen comprised of belatacept, inhaled cyclosporine, and/or sirolimus. Dr. Timofte has served as principal investigator and co-investigator in several NIH-sponsored clinical trials.

Throughout her career, Dr. Timofte has been involved in educating and training medical students, residents, and fellows. At UT Southwestern, Dr. Timofte serves as Program Director for the Lung Transplant Fellowship program, and she is dedicated to mentoring and teaching pulmonary and critical care fellows.

Dr. Timofte is an active member of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

She has published numerous academic articles and delivers international, national, and regional presentations.

Medical School

Carol Davila University of Medicine & Pharmacy (2002)

Residency

Cleveland Clinic Foundation (2007), Internal Medicine

Fellowship

University of Florida Health Science Center (2012), Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine

Fellowship

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (2013), Lung Transplant

Other Post Graduate Training

University of Maryland School of Medicine (2019)

• Cell-free DNA
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Interstitial Lung Disease
• Lung Transplantation
• Metabolome
• Microbiome
• Pulmonary Fibrosis
• Pulmonary Hypertension
• Rejection and immunosuppression

Featured Publications

Dapsone as an Effective Treatment for Arthritis Secondary to Hidradenitis Suppurativa.

Timofte I, Smith H, Bull Hosp Jt Dis (2013) 2021 Jun 79 2 137-140

Use of donor-derived-cell-free DNA as a marker of early allograft injury in primary graft dysfunction (PGD) to predict the risk of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD).

Keller M, Bush E, Diamond JM, Shah P, Matthew J, Brown AW, Sun J, Timofte I, Kong H, Tunc I, Luikart H, Iacono A, Nathan SD, Khush KK, Orens J, Jang M, Agbor-Enoh S, J Heart Lung Transplant 2021 Jun 40 6 488-493

Donor-derived cell-free DNA accurately detects acute rejection in lung transplant patients, a multicenter cohort study.

Jang MK, Tunc I, Berry GJ, Marboe C, Kong H, Keller MB, Shah PD, Timofte I, Brown AW, Ponor IL, Mutebi C, Philogene MC, Yu K, Iacono A, Orens JB, Nathan SD, Agbor-Enoh S, J Heart Lung Transplant 2021 Apr

Molecular T-cell?mediated rejection in transbronchial and mucosal lung transplant biopsies is associated with future risk of graft loss.

Halloran K, Parkes MD, Timofte I, Snell G, Westall G, Havlin J, Lischke R, Hachem R, Kreisel D, Levine D, Kubisa B, Piotrowska M, Juvet S, Keshavjee S, Jaksch P, Klepetko W, Hirji A, Weinkauf J, Halloran PF, J Heart Lung Transplant 2020 12 39 12 1327-1337

Survival benefit of lung transplantation compared with medical management and pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with end-stage COPD.

Timofte I, Wijesinha M, Vesselinov R, Kim J, Reed R, Sanchez PG, Ladikos N, Pham S, Kon Z, Rajagopal K, Scharf SM, Wise R, Sternberg AL, Kaczorowski D, Griffith B, Terrin M, Iacono A, ERJ Open Res 2020 Apr 6 2

Molecular phenotyping of rejection-related changes in mucosal biopsies from lung transplants.

Halloran K, Parkes MD, Timofte IL, Snell GI, Westall GP, Hachem R, Kreisel D, Levine D, Juvet S, Keshavjee S, Jaksch P, Klepetko W, Hirji A, Weinkauf J, Halloran PF, Am J Transplant 2020 04 20 4 954-966

Gait-speed and oxygen flow during six-minute walk test predicts mortality in patients with advanced lung disease.

Timofte I, Tonelli A, Diaz-Abad M, Verceles A, Ladikos N, Iacono A, Terrin ML, Wijesinha M, Akindipe O, Baz M, Monaldi Arch Chest Dis 2020 Feb 90 1

A randomised single-centre trial of inhaled liposomal cyclosporine for bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome post-lung transplantation.

Iacono A, Wijesinha M, Rajagopal K, Murdock N, Timofte I, Griffith B, Terrin M, ERJ Open Res 2019 Oct 5 4

Molecular assessment of rejection and injury in lung transplant biopsies.

Halloran KM, Parkes MD, Chang J, Timofte IL, Snell GI, Westall GP, Hachem R, Kreisel D, Trulock E, Roux A, Juvet S, Keshavjee S, Jaksch P, Klepetko W, Halloran PF, J Heart Lung Transplant 2019 05 38 5 504-513

Donor-derived cell-free DNA predicts allograft failure and mortality after lung transplantation.

Agbor-Enoh S, Wang Y, Tunc I, Jang MK, Davis A, De Vlaminck I, Luikart H, Shah PD, Timofte I, Brown AW, Marishta A, Bhatti K, Gorham S, Fideli U, Wylie J, Grimm D, Goodwin N, Yang Y, Patel K, Zhu J, Iacono A, Orens JB, Nathan SD, Marboe C, Berry GJ, Quake SR, Khush K, Valantine HA, EBioMedicine 2019 Feb 40 541-553

• Certificate of Appreciation for Dedicated Service
  Cleveland Clinic (2009)

• International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation