James H. Williams Jr., MD, Pulmonologist - UCI Lung Center, Orange, CA - Pulmonologists, Univ. of California, Irvine

UCI Lung Center
University of California, Irvine

James H. Williams Jr., MD
Adjunct Professor of Medicine
Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Dr. Williams was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he attended college at the Ohio State University. After college, he moved east to attended medical school in Boston at Harvard.
Dr. Williams was drawn during his internship to pulmonary and critical care medicine by the leadership of Sol Katz at Georgetown, who he found not only remarkably insightful, but also a physician with exceptional integrity and compassion for patients. Dr. Katz helped define a disease called sardoidosis, and stimulated Dr. Williams' interests in interstitial lung diseases.
Dr. Williams was also intrigued by cardiopulmonary interactions and thromboembolism, which led him to UC San Diego to study pulmonary and critical care medicine under Dr. Kenneth Moser, a leader in this field. Dr. Williams maintains an interest in thromboembolism and pulmonary vascular diseases.
Dr. Williams was recruited to UC Irvine in 1984 from his fellowship training at UCSD. At UCI, his primary emphasis has been clinical medicine. However, he has remained an active researcher throughout this time, with a keen interest studying the mechanisms of disease. His reputation among his collegues is that of a physician who carefully considers a broad range of factors that may contribute to a patient's symptoms, and one who will search for novel treatments when conventional therapy fails.
In his practice, Dr. Williams follows a relatively large number of patients with uncommon lung infections, including mycobacteria (TB, MAI, etc), fungi, and others. These infections are often overlooked in patients diagnosed with asthma, COPD, chronic bronchitis, interstitial pneumonitis, pulmonary fibrosis, and even at times misdiagnosed as lung cancer. He also participates in the care of patients with transplanted organs. Dr. Williams' research in lung inflammation and repair provides an unsually broad perspective in the management of these conditions.
Dr. Williams is one of the founding members of the Lung Cancer Treatment Group at UCI Medical Center, where he sees patients regularly at the Chao Family Cancer Center with other specialists in medical oncology, radiation oncology, and thoracic surgery. Dr. Williams participated in the development of the lung cancer treatment guidelines published recently (2003) by the American College of Chest Physicians. He is experienced in a broad array of pulmonary procedures, including airway management with diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy (biopsies, stents, laser), and pleural space management (thoracentesis, pleural biopsies). Dr. Williams also refers patients to other physicians when their special problems suggest the need for another's skills. Dr. Williams' research in dietary supplements that may affect lung cancer growth has helped refocus scientific opinion about some of these agents. He continues to explore new approaches to lung tumors.
Selected publications:

Williams JH, Hartman TM, Lichter J, Moser KM: Do 111Indium-labeled polymorphonuclear leukocytes detect the neutrophil-prominent, fibrosing lung disease in rats? J Lab Clin Med;110:55-62, 1987.
Williams JH, Fairshter RD, Ulich TR, Crosby S, Chen M, Rosario L, Vaziri ND.: Adverse effects of 15(S)-15-methyl prostaglandin in E1 on normal and paraquat exposed rats. J Toxicol Appl Pharmacol;92:330-334, 1988.
Williams JH, Chen M, Drew J, Panigan E, Hosseini S.: Modulation of rat granulocyte trafficking by a surface-active agent: Effects in vitro and bleomycin injury. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med;188:461-70, 1988.
Williams JH, Bencowitz HZ: Differences in plethysmographic lung volumes: Effects of linked versus unlinked spirometry. Chest;95:117-23, 1989.
Williams JH Jr, Heshmati S, Tamadon S, Guerra J. Inhibition of alveolar macrophage functions by pentoxifylline. Crit Care Med;19(8):1073-1078, 1991.
Williams JH. A Perspective: 111Indium-Labeled Neutrophils for Detecting Lung Injury. Chest;99:1248-1251, 1991.
Williams JH, Bodell P, Hosseini S, Tran H, Baldwin KM. Hemodynamic sequelae of pulmonary fibrosis following intratracheal bleomycin in rats. Cardiovasc Res;26:401-401, 1992.
Williams JH Jr, Patel SK, Hatakeyama, Arain R, Guo KZ, Hickey TJ, Liao S-Y, Ulich TR. Activated pulmonary vascular neutrophils as early mediators of endotoxin-induced lung inflammation. Am J Respir Cell Molec Biol;8:134-144, 1993.
Omenn GS, Goodman G, Thornquist MD, Balmes J, Cullen MR, Glass A, Keogh J, Meyskens F Jr, Valanis B, Williams JH Jr, Barnhart S, Hammer S. Effects of a combination of beta-carotene and vitamin A on lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. N Engl J Med 334:1150-1155, 1996.
Omenn GS, Goodman G, Thornquist MD, Balmes J, Cullen MR, Glass A, Keogh J, Meyskens F Jr, Valanis B, Williams JH Jr, Barnhart S, Cherniack MG, Brodkin CA, Hammer S. Risk factors for lung cancer and intervention effects in CARET, the beta-carotene and retinol efficacy trial. JNCI 88:1550-1559, 1996.
Ross H, Cho J, Ossan K, Fun S, Ramsinghani N, Williams J, del Hurtado N, Slater L. Phase I/II trial of low dose cyclosporin A with EP for advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma. Lung Cancer 18(2):189-98, 1997.
Williams JH. Other gram-negative pneumonias. In: Bordow RA, Ries A, Morris T (eds), Clinical Problems in Pulmonary Medicine. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001.
Williams JH Jr. Fluoroquinolones for respiratory infections: Too valuable to overuse. Chest; 120:1771-1175, 2001
Williams JH Jr, Shan X, Meyskens FL. Beta-carotene inhibits tobocco smoke cytotoxicity in lung cancer cell line. Am J Resp Crit Care Med 2003.
Alberts WM, Bepler G, Hazelton T, Ruckdeschel JC, Williams JH. Lung Cancer Guidelines: Practice Organization. Chest 2003.
Williams JH Jr., Pahl MV, Kwong D, Zhang J, Hatakeyama D, Ahmad K, Naderi M, Kim M, Vaziri N. Modulation of neutrophil complement receptor-3 expression by pneumococci. Clinical Science 2003.

[ back to top ]

UCI Lung Center
UCI Medical Center, Building 53, Rt 81
101 The City Drive South
Orange, CA 92868
Info & Appointments: 714.456.7002
Fax: 714.456.8349
VIEW MAP >>