Since 1899, National Jewish Health has served as a beacon of hope for millions of children and adults worldwide who suffer from respiratory, cardiac, immune and related diseases.

Our multi-disciplinary approach, where physicians and researcher collaborate across specialties, is what enables us to make the correct diagnosis the first time. It also makes us uniquely equipped to treat the wide array of symptoms of COVID-19 and long COVID.

People come from around the world to our main health campus, our 25 locations across Colorado, and our Respiratory Institutes® in Denver, New York and Philadelphia for our unsurpassed excellence in patient care and research. And in FY22, we provided nearly $44 million in charity and subsidized care to patients from across the country.

Throughout our history, National Jewish Health researchers have made numerous groundbreaking discoveries, including IgE, the molecule responsible for allergic reactions; the T-cell receptor gene, which triggers an immune response; the genetic roots of pulmonary fibrosis (scarring in the lungs), and more.

Clinical research at National Jewish Health has contributed to important new treatments for pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and others.

Our list of accomplishments and our reputation keep us at the top of the U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” rankings. Since the magazine started ranking pulmonology 27 years ago, we have been ranked in the top ten. In the 2023-24 “Best Hospitals for Common Care” category, our COPD, Lung Cancer Surgery and pneumonia programs were rated “high performing,” the highest rating available. In addition, we are one of the country’s leading recipients of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is impressive for an institution of our size and budget.

National Jewish Health is also the only medical campus in the country with a school for chronically ill children. Morgridge Academy is a free K-8 school for children diagnosed with diseases, including severe asthma and allergies, cystic fibrosis and immune deficiencies, including HIV/AIDS.

This level of excellence in patient care and research goes well beyond the walls of National Jewish Health.

Whether you live in Denver, Las Vegas, New York or London, our research benefits you and your family – even if you never come here for care. 

Leading Respiratory Hospital in the Nation

National Jewish Health is the leading respiratory hospital in the nation and the only health care organization to be fully focused on respiratory related illnesses. National Jewish Health has been recognized for this expertise through a variety of outside measurements and tangible achievements, including those listed below.

Institutional Achievements

• National Jewish Health has the largest pulmonary division in the nation and is the only hospital whose principal focus is pulmonary disease.

• The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) ranks National Jewish Health in the top 1 percent of hospitals in the nation.

• National Jewish Health has more than 50 doctors named on various physician ranking lists, including as “America’s Top Doctors” by Castle Connolly, and the Denver local 5280 magazine list of “Top Docs.”

• Ranked in the top ten by U.S. News & World Report every year that the Pulmonology category has been included in the rankings (27 years).

• In the past year, National Jewish Health researchers have published over 500 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals, many of them in the most influential publications such as Cell, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA and Nature.

• National Jewish Health is in the top 6 percent of institutions in the country funded by the NIH, in terms of absolute dollars. This is a tremendous achievement for a specialty hospital/research center.

• Ranked among the leaders worldwide in the impact of our scientific publications, our faculty also have helped write national guidelines for the diagnosis and care of patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, idiopathic lung disease, atopic dermatitis and other diseases.

• Every year patients come to National Jewish Health from all 50 states and numerous foreign countries, seeking care they could not receive anywhere else. 

Research Achievements

National Jewish Health is responsible for many important scientific advances, including:

• IgE, the molecule responsible for allergic reactions. This discovery has become the basis for many new treatments for asthma and allergies.

• The T-cell receptor gene, which plays a crucial role in recognizing foreign invaders and orchestrating an immune response. It opened the door to understanding how bodies fight viruses, bacteria and cancer.

• Superantigens, extremely powerful bacterial toxins associated with particularly virulent diseases, such as toxic shock syndrome and Legionnaire’s disease.

• Combined chemotherapy for tuberculosis. National Jewish Health physicians were among the leaders in developing this crucial tool for fighting tuberculosis.

• Culture medium for tuberculosis. A low-cost medium to grow tuberculosis organisms, which could make evaluation of drug-resistance possible in many of the hardest hit nations.

• Proteins that slow the growth of cancer tumors by preventing the growth of blood vessels necessary for their growth and survival. The discovery could lead to new therapies for cancer.

• Mechanisms of apoptosis. Pioneering efforts have helped doctors understand how the body effectively removes and recycles up to two billion cells a day and resolves inflammation in the lung.

• Immune response trigger. Research at National Jewish Health revealed exactly what triggers the adaptive immune response: fragments of proteins from invading organisms bound to and presented by MHC molecules.

• The immunological synapse, a complex and long-lived connection between immune-system cells that greatly influences the immuneresponse.

• New family of anti-viral agents. A naturally occurring lipid fights viral infections in the lungs and the inflammation associated with them.

• Methamphetamine hazards. Groundbreaking research identified hazardous chemical exposures associated with clandestine methamphetamine laboratories.

• Breast cancer inhibitor. A protein known as cdk6 is low in breast cancer cells, and is being investigated as a potential tool for diagnosing breast cancer and as a therapy to fight it.

• Genetic roots of pulmonary fibrosis. A team led by researchers at National Jewish Health discovered genetic mutations that increase the risk of developing pulmonary fibrosis by 7 to 22 times, offering insight into the origins and possible treatments for this devastating disease.

• Food allergy cure. In several trials, patients have been desensitized to allergenic foods through repeated exposure to small amounts of the food or its proteins. Still in clinical trials.

• Allergies to artificial joints. Researchers have developed a blood test that can detect allergy to nickel used in artificial joints, a common cause of failure.