Dr. Ha is a Staff Pulmonologist and Critical Care Medicine (ICU) Physician at the Rocky Mountain Regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Assistant Professor in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. His research focuses on survivorship care following diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, particularly of stage I-III lung cancer with curative intent. He has led and completed quantitative research projects that characterized symptom burden, functional impairments, and health-related quality of life challenges among Veteran lung cancer survivors following curative intent therapy, as well as qualitative research to gain in-depth understandings of their views and preferences for rehabilitation and telerehabilitation. Informed by his and others’ research in this field, Dr. Ha and his team have proposed a conceptual model of a vicious cycle of “dyspnea-inactivity” and downward health spiral that needs to be promptly disrupted to reduce symptom burden, improve function, enhance health-related quality of life, decrease health care use, and prolong survival following curative intent therapy of lung cancer. To this end, he and his team have completed a pilot randomized trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05059132) to evaluate telemedicine-based inspiratory muscle training and walking promotion to reverse this postulated vicious cycle of “dyspnea-inactivity” and found that this targeted intervention was feasible, acceptable, safe, and could reduce dyspnea, improve physical activity, and enhance health-related quality of life (PMID 37656252).

Dr. Ha’s long-term goals are to evaluate patient-centered survivorship care, including through targeted rehabilitation and patient-centered trials, to improve the physical and psychosocial function, enhance quality of life, promote well-being, and longevity for Veterans with lung cancer following curative intent therapy. His research has been supported by the US National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (L30 CA208950), American Cancer Society (130760-PF-17-020-01-CPPB), American Lung Association (LCD 820773), and US Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research & Development Program (IK2RX003661).