“It seemed like the right thing to do — going to the U of A was a logical step,” says Atul Malhotra, ’88 BSc, ’92 MD. “I was born at the U of A Hospital, and I was young when I finished high school in Edmonton. It was natural to stay home.” So that’s where he took his science and medical degrees.
That first logical step has led to international renown in pulmonary, critical care, sleep medicine research and patient care. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Malhotra went to the Mayo Clinic to train in internal medicine, followed by a fellowship, then a faculty position in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has published more than 800 papers and helped develop more effective, less expensive treatments for obstructive sleep apnea, in which people temporarily stop breathing during sleep. Malhotra has expertise in respiratory failure, sepsis and narcolepsy, and he’s now vice-chair of medicine for research and research chief at the University of California San Diego.
“Sometimes I’m driven to things by opportunity. Sometimes it’s by passion. And sometimes it’s just necessity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us did research that ended up making contributions.”
“Atul is a global leader in pulmonary physiology. He has mentored more than 50 physicians and scientists who have themselves achieved success.”
Rakesh Bhattacharjee, ’98 BSc(Spec), pulmonologist, professor, University of California San Diego
As president of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) in 2015-16, Malhotra focused on recruiting “the best and brightest young doctors and nurses to develop a next generation of leaders in respiratory critical care and sleep medicine,” he says. The ATS pioneered a remote-learning program for overseas scholars with limited access to experts.
The ATS role was “a bit of a loudspeaker,” he says. His advocacy has continued and he’s a frequent public speaker, in recent years addressing the harms of wildfire smoke. “There’s misinformation about climate, and there’s political debate, but there’s no debate about wildfire smoke or particulates in the air,” says Malhotra. “Arguing over global warming obscures the issue of cardiopulmonary toxicity of air pollution.”
Malhotra and his Irish-born wife, endocrinologist Karen McCowen, live in La Jolla, Calif., and visit Edmonton frequently — recently to attend his 40th reunion at Old Scona Academic High School.
The physician-scientist also came home to accept his Distinguished Alumni Award. “Some of the smartest people I know went to the ,” he says. “What I treasure most are the people — people who I’m still close to.”
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