Timothy R. Watkins, M.D.

Assistant Professor
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Assistant Member, Research Division
Puget Sound Blood Center

Education and Training

B.S. in Biology, Ohio Univeristy, Athens Ohio 1996.

M.D., Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, Columbus, Ohio. 2000.

Residency, Internal Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison Wisconsin, 2003.

Chief Resident, Internal Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Winconsin, 2004.

Fellowship, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2007.

Research Interests

Dr. Watkins performs clinically-oriented translational research, studying outcomes following critical illness and injury, examining specifically how blood product transfusions might contribute to adverse clinical outcomes. His research areas of interest include examining the clinical and biologic relationships between blood product transfusions and the development of lung injury, sepsis, and multiple organ failure. He is focusing on elements of blood product processing, storage, and even blood donor health-related factors in order to identify mechanisms to improve transfusion safety in critically ill and injured populations. These groups seem especially vulnerable to transfusion-associated complications.

Dr. Watkins currently holds a career development award from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, investigating the effect of blood product storage time on the development of trauma-associated lung injury. Through this project he is also working to determine whether cell-derived microparticles are a meaningful component of the RBC storage lesion, and is investigating their potential role as important biomarkers of adverse outcomes in transfused trauma patients.

Representative Publications

Cooke CR, Erickson SE, Watkins TR, Matthay MM, Rubenfeld GD. Age-, sex-, and race-based differences among patients enrolled versus not enrolled in acute lung injury clinical trials. Crit Care Med 2010; In press

Watkins TR, Cooke CR. A 67 Year Old Man with Hemoptysis. American Thoracic Society, Critical Care Assembly, 2009. Accessed at http://www.thoracic.org/sections/clinical-information/critical-care/critical-care-cases/index.html

Cooke CR, Kahn JM, Watkins TR, Hudson LD, Rubenfeld GD. Cost-effectiveness of implementing low-tidal volume ventilation in patients with acute lung injury. Chest 2009;136:79-88

Cooke CR, Watkins TR, Kahn JM, et al. The effect of an intensive care unit staffing model on tidal volume in patients with acute lung injury. Crit Care 2008;12:R134

Watkins TR, Rubenfeld GD, Martin TR, et al. Effects of leukoreduced blood on acute lung injury after trauma: a randomized controlled trial. Crit Care Med 2008;36:1493-9.

Watkins TR, Nathens AB. TRALI: A New Case Definition, a New Epidemic? Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007;176(9):839-40.

Watkins TR, Chien JW, Crawford SW. Graft versus host-associated pulmonary disease and other idiopathic pulmonary complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Semin Respir Crit Care Med 2005;26(5):482-9

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