Linda Nici, MD, is the founder and medical director of the Providence VA Medical Center Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program. Through this program, she has investigated multiple patient-centered outcomes in COPD patients, including response of depression and anxiety to pulmonary rehabilitation, influence of body mass index on program completion, the effects of self-management education of COPD readmissions rates, and the trajectory of activity levels in COPD patients following pulmonary rehabilitation. She has participated in VA multi-center trials, New England consortium of pulmonary rehabilitation multi-center trials, pharmaceutical company-sponsored trials, and site specific trials evaluating multiple aspects of integrated COPD care.