(2/08/11) – Dr. Vinod K. Jona has joined McLeod Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates. This McLeod Physician Associates practice will be located in the McLeod Medical Plaza, 800 East Cheves Street, Suite 200.

"We believe this affiliation will strengthen the partnership between Dr. Jona and McLeod Health to provide excellent health care to pulmonary and critical care patients," said Dane Ficco, Senior Vice President of McLeod Physician Associates. "In addition, McLeod plans to further enhance its patient-care services as we work with Dr. Jona to improve and expand our pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine programs and technology to meet the needs of our patients."

Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Medicine, Dr. Jona received a medical degree from Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal, India. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Jacobi Medical Center of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University in Bronx, New York. He also completed a fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine at Albert Einstein Health Center in Philadelphia, PA. In addition to serving on the McLeod Community Board, Dr. Jona represents the Department of Medicine as a member of the McLeod Medical Executive Committee.

In his nine years of caring for patients at McLeod, Dr. Jona said he has been impressed with the growth of the medical center and the assistance he has received from administration. "They have been very helpful to me in improving patient care, acquiring new technology, and offering new procedures to our patients."

Dr. Jona explained that he pursued the field of pulmonology because he was inspired by one of his attending physicians during his residency who was a "big guru of pulmonology."

As a pulmonary and critical care physician, Dr. Jona also treats patients who have sleep medicine conditions. "This is a new up and coming area that really fascinates me," Dr. Jona said. "We are learning more each day about these conditions and the effects they have on heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and depression." As a member of the Clinical Effectiveness Mortality Review Committee, Dr. Jona explained that patients who have sleep apnea have a potential increased risk of in-hospital morbidity and mortality.

In the area of pulmonary, Dr. Jona believes that five years down the road there is going to be an increase in patients with smoking-related illnesses. "Prevention is the key," he said. "Even if people quit smoking, the lungs have a very good memory of all you did before."