Dr. Andrew Luks is a Senior Fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle Washington.

As one of our project collaborators, Andrew is conducting a study on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, a phenomenon in which the blood vessels within the lungs constrict in response to the low oxygen conditions at high altitude. Along with his research mentor from the University of Washington, Dr. Erik Swenson, Andrew is trying to determine whether the magnitude of this response changes as a person spends more time at altitude. In order to answer this question, he will be conducting sea-level studies on a select group of our trekkers in London and will then follow these same trekkers and conduct measurements during their trek into Everest Base Camp.

Andrew has extensive prior experience with research and clinical work at high altitude. He has worked as part of several prior field studies on high altitude physiology including projects at the White Mountain Research Station in California and the Capanna Regina Margherita in the Italian Alps and worked as one of the doctors at the Himalayan Rescue Association clinic in Pheriche, Nepal during the Autumn of 2003. This spring, Andrew and Dr. Swenson will publish a review article in the European Respiratory Journal on Travel to High Altitude With Pre-existing Lung Disease.

Following his undergraduate training in economics and political science, Andrew completed medical school at the University of California, San Diego and later finished residency training in internal medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. Scheduled to finish his fellowship training in June of 2007, Andrew is now a board-certified pulmonary specialist.

In his spare time, Andrew takes full advantage of his proximity to the Cascades and Olympic Mountains and spends a good deal of his free time climbing, backcountry skiing and taking photographs. This will be his third trip to Nepal. He swears he cannot get enough of the dahl bhat.