Trishul Siddharthan, M.D., is a pulmonologist who specializes in chronic respiratory diseases at UHealth, the University of Miami Health System. For more information on asthma and COPD treatments and services, click here or visit the UHealth Collective:
MEET TORI CAMERON:
Wading through waist-deep water is part of conservationist Tori Cameron’s job, but her health was making it harder.
“I was dealing with reoccurring respiratory infections and a chronic cough,” Tori says.
Tori had asthma since childhood, but standard treatments stopped working. She met with pulmonologist Trishul Siddharthan, M.D., who specializes in chronic respiratory diseases at UHealth, the University of Miami Health System.
“Asthma is an intermittent process, and so individuals may have intermittent cough, shortness of breath, wheeze, chest tightness. The worst-case scenario is you actually don’t feel it coming on and you all of a sudden get hit with symptoms. And those are the cases that I actually treat, what we call severe asthma. So, these are individuals that despite being on inhalers, they really have limited control of their symptoms,” says Dr. Siddharthan.
Here in South Florida, doctors are seeing a rise in the number of adults with severe asthma. UHealth is at the forefront of treating patients with precision therapies such as biologics which are making a huge difference in people’s lives.
“The mainstay of treatment for asthma are inhalers. They really don’t target the specific mechanisms by which asthma cause both injury and disease in the lungs. These therapies basically target those pathways and those specific mechanisms,” Dr. Siddharthan says.
“Immediately, I had more energy. I just climbed a mountain this weekend with friends,” says Tori.
Dr. Siddharthan and his team are studying biologics in pursuit of a cure.
“Right now, we know that it prevents exacerbations, it helps improve lung function, it helps improve quality of life and symptoms. But there is a line of investigation that’s seeing whether or not it modifies the disease trajectory, whether or not it can actually change the way an individual with asthma, their lung function declines over their lifespan,” Dr. Siddharthan says.
With her asthma under control, the award-winning filmmaker can go back to her work in the wild – producing documentaries like “Path of the Panter”.
“This documentary tells the story of the endangered Florida panther and its recovery from the brink of extinction,” says Tori.
She is eternally grateful she can focus on her work and not her next breath!
“It’s been great. It’s been really, truly life changing,” Tori says.
FOCUSING ON YOU
Focusing on You: Innovations in Modern Medicine is a series of healthcare-related stories airing regularly on WPLG Local 10. For more stories like this one, visit YouTube channels for UHealth, the University of Miami Health System.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.