Dr. Christian Bime, still with U of A, heads to Phoenix after dozen years in Tucson

Congratulations to Christian Bime, MD, MSc, who’ll be joining the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix as a full professor and division chief come July 1.

Dr. Bime is currently a U of A College of Medicine – Tucson tenured associate professor, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, or PACCS, and medical director of the medicine intensive care unit at Banner – UMC Tucson.

“Over the past 12 years at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, I’ve been shaped and strengthened — as a human being, a physician, a teacher, a mentor, a researcher and a leader. I am deeply grateful to the community that made this journey possible: the dedicated staff, inquisitive students, tireless residents and fellows, generous colleagues and mentors, and, above all, the patients,” Dr. Bime said. “I had the privilege to care for many, and I hope I was able to help a few.”

He joined the College of Medicine – Tucson faculty in 2013 after his pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Detroit’s Wayne State University. He holds a master’s degree in epidemiology from Michigan State University and a medical doctorate from Université de Yaoundé I in Cameroon, where he was born and raised.

In his initial year in Tucson, Dr. Bime won his first National Institutes of Health-funded grant and was part of the inaugural U of A Health Sciences Career Development Award cohort. He later was in the first U of A cohort for a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded fellowship training program to improve the number of early-career faculty from underrepresented groups in biomedical research (then known by the acronym AZ-PRIDE and now known as AAPLS)

His translational research program has focused on acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was a key figure in ensuring patients had the best care possible as Banner and the U of A Health Sciences partnered to manage the increased demands on pulmonary and ICU care, and in resulting research from that.

He has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and participated in numerous clinical trials. His work has been supported by multiple grants from the NIH through the years. And he has served on committees with both the American Thoracic Society and American College of Chest Physicians related to that work.

“Congratulations to Dr. Christian Bime for becoming the new chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine at the College of Medicine – Phoenix. We wish him the very best as he moves onto the next chapter of his career! We are delighted that he’s getting this major career advancement while staying within the larger University of Arizona family,” said Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, PACCS division chief in Tucson.

Currently, Kenneth S. Knox, MD, the former DOM Pulmonary division chief at the College of Medicine – Tucson, is serving in an interim role as College of Medicine – Phoenix Pulmonary division chief at the Department of Internal Medicine in Phoenix, in addition to being vice dean of academic and faculty affairs at the college there. Dr. Knox left Tucson in January 2017 to become College of Medicine – Phoenix’s associate dean of faculty affairs. Dr. Parthasarathy took over as PACCS division chief in Tucson after Dr. Knox’s departure.