Prof. Toby Michael Maher, MD, PhD

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Get to know Pulmonologist Dr. Toby Michael Maher, who serves patients in California.

Dr. Maher is a practised pulmonologist with a clinical interest in interstitial lung disease. 

His particular areas of expertise include idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, sarcoidosis, langerhans cell histiocytosis, and lymphangioleiomyomatosis. He also manages pulmonary fibrosis and lung disease associated with systemic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma.

At the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Dr. Maher is a Professor of Clinical Medicine and the Director of Interstitial Lung Disease. His research interests include basic and translational research into idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, with a major focus on biomarker discovery, early phase clinical trials, and the pre-clinical validation of putative targets and compounds for the treatment of fibrosing lung disease. 

Previously, he was the British Lung Foundation Chair in Respiratory Research and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinician Scientist. He was a Professor of Interstitial Lung Disease and headed up the Fibrosis Research Group at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. 

Graduating with the class of 1998, Dr. Maher earned his medical degree from the University of Southampton School of Medicine in England. He then trained in respiratory medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital.

During his training, he gained a Master of Science degree in Respiratory Medicine from Imperial College London. In 2005, Dr. Maher was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship undertaken at the Centre for Respiratory Research, University College London and culminated in the award of a PhD.

Having been actively involved in a number of specialist societies, Dr. Maher was on the Executive of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and sat on the steering committee of the BTS IPF and Sarcoidosis Database Working Group. He is a past chair of the BTS Rare and Interstitial Lung Disease Specialist Advisory Group, the former treasurer of the British Association for Lung Research, a past chair of the NHS England Specialist Respiratory Clinical Reference Group, and a former trustee of the British Lung Foundation.

Among his professional affiliations, he is an active member of the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society. 

Pulmonology is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract. A pulmonologist is an internal medicine physician who specializes in preventing, diagnosing, and treating conditions and diseases that affect the lungs, bronchial tubes, and the respiratory system, including the nose, pharynx, and throat. Dr. Schwartz manages patients who present with conditions of the chest, particularly,  COPD, emphysema, asthma, pneumonia and lung nodules. 

Throughout his line of work, Dr. Maher has authored over 260 papers and book chapters on IPF. He frequently lectures on topics related to pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung disease both in the United Kingdom and at major international meetings including in the United States.

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