Pulmonologist Catherine Bonham, MD

Catherine Bonham, MD, is a pulmonologist treating patients with advanced and rare lung diseases such as sarcoidosis and pulmonary fibrosis. Bonham’s drive to medicine was the meaningful impact she hoped to have in people’s lives.

Learn more: https://uvahealth.com/findadoctor/pro...

My name’s Cathy Bonham. I’m a pulmonologist and also an ICU physician. I’m particularly interested in people that have advanced lung diseases — also, some rare lung diseases like sarcoidosis and pulmonary fibrosis.

The things that made me feel like medicine was the right fit for me was the ability to impact people’s lives in a meaningful way. Also, of course, I’ve always been very interested in innovation and scientific discovery. I’ve had several patients, looking back, that changed the way I thought about my career. Sometimes it’s taking care of a person that, in the ICU, who’s very sick and watching them evolve through a lot of hard work and perseverance on their part as well, getting better. That’s extremely satisfying.

One of the reasons that I’m a UVA physician is that I think there truly is a culture of collaboration and also of excellence. And specifically, in the pulmonary department for the patients that I see, there is truly a multidisciplinary interest in not only providing excellent clinical care but also driving forward the field by doing research, so that in the future, we can continue to offer not only excellent treatment but maybe even cures. So that’s a really exciting thing to be involved in.