Henri G. Colt M.D., FCCP, FAWM

Professor Emeritus
Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of California, Irvine
Philosophical practitioner certified APPA
Tel: 619-770-9990
Email: henricolt@gmail.com, website Henricolt.com

Dr. Colt left a successful academic practice to pursue his passions: global medical education, philosophy, mountaineering/rock climbing, and writing. An accomplished author of medical text books, he is also the author and editor of Picture of Health: Medical Ethics and the Movies (Oxford University Press). He recently published a collection of Flash Fiction 30 Stories About Life & Death, and Becoming Modigliani, an in-depth biography of Jewish-Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. Dr. Colt is a sought-after speaker who lectures around the world on medical education, art and the humanities, and philosophical practice, in addition to leading Train-the-Train programs for medical educators abroad. His background is multicultural; he speaks several languages and practiced medicine in Europe, Africa, and the United States.

Henri grew up in New York, moving to southern France when he was sixteen. After his baccalaureate with honors, he attended the Medical University of Nice, France where he graduated in 1981. After a year in the United States, he went to Africa where he was in the military and also worked throughout East Africa and countries of the Indian Ocean for several years before returning to the United States for additional training in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the University of Health Sciences in Portland, Oregon. While on the faculty of  the Laser Center, University of Marseille, France, he was recruited to the University of California San Diego in 1991, where he was Professor of Medicine and Director of interventional pulmonary services at UCSD-La Jolla before being named Director of Clinical Programs and Head of Interventional Pulmonology, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of California, Irvine in 2002.

Listed annually in Orange Coast Magazine’s Best Doctors and Best Doctors in America from 1996 until his retirement from clinical practice in 2012, Professor.Colt has authored almost 300 peer-reviewed original research articles, book chapters, textbooks, and review papers. He was an associate editor for the Journal of Bronchology, is a writer and section editor for the popular UpToDate in Pulmonary Medicine, and was on the editorial board or reviewer’s list of numerous medical journals. Dr. Colt was Chairman of the World Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, President of the American Association for Bronchology, Regent of the American College of Chest Physicians, and served on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Lung Cancer Support and Education (ALCASE). He was an official development consultant to the Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) in Tianjin, China, a nominee for the Global Genes Achievement Award, and Chairman of the European nonprofit World Bronchology Foundation. He has received honorary memberships in numerous medical societies and received the prestigious San Jose de San Martin award from the South American Association for Bronchology, the Killian and Dumon awards from the World Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, and leadership awards from the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, the United States, and Argentina among others. He was a certified litigation mediator in Orange County, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (Wilderness Medical Society), and a Medical Ethicist (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina). Dr. Colt is also a philosophical practitioner and certified moderator of Socratic Dialogues.

Henri remains an internationally recognized authority in pulmonary endoscopic procedures. He has lectured internationally on the use of novel endoscopic and optical surgical technologies including laser resection, thoracoscopy, and palliative cancer treatments. In Medical Ethics he addresses religion, philosophy, psychology, ethics, humanitarian service, and palliative/end-of-life care, with a focus on compassion, empathy, and philosophy of care. His most recent lectures include topics such as Using film to teach medical ethics and Modigliani, art and the human condition. In addition to mountaineering and international travel, his current interests are in the medical applications of artificial intelligence, philosophy, interventional pulmonology and education.

Dr. Colt is committed to the democratization of knowledge and to changing educational paradigms in order to provide uniform, multidimensional, competency-based learning curricula for teaching the fundamentals of airway procedures. As the founder of Bronchoscopy International (bronchoscopy.org, and https://bronchatlas.com) he has gathered an international group of experts dedicated to teaching interventional pulmonology and training medical educators. His blog, Colt’s Corner is widely read by thousands of practitioners and a general readership around the world. Dr. Colt lives in Laguna Beach, California and Southern France.

Selected recent publications

  1. Lentz RJ, Colt HG, Chen H et al. Assessing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission to healthcare personnel: The global ACT-HCP case-control study. Journal of Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiol 2020;1-7. doi:10.1017/ice.2020.455. download article here
  2. A study of bronchoscopy in the first six months of the pandemic now published in the Journal of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (download article here).
  3. Khemasuwan D and Colt HG. Applications and challenges of AI-basd algorithms in the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Innovations 2021;7:387-398.
  4. Khemasuwan D, Sorenson JS, Colt HG. Artificial intelligence in pulmonary medicine: computer vision, predictive model, and COVID-19. Eur Respir Rev 2020:29:200181; https://doi.org/10.1183/16000617.0181-2020.
  5. Matus I, Colt H. Pleural Catheter Fracture During IPC Removal: An Under-reported Complication. J Bronchology Interv Pulmonol. 2021 Jan 1;28(1):e1-e3. doi: 10.1097/LBR.0000000000000684. PMID: 33332847.
  6. Lentz RJ, Colt H. Summarizing societal guidelines regarding bronchoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respirology. 2020 Jun;25(6):574-577. doi: 10.1111/resp.13824. Epub 2020 Apr 11. PMID: 32277733; PMCID: PMC7262091. Download article here.
  7. Sabbath BF and Colt HG. Sending retirees to the frontlines. J Community Hosp Internal Med Perspectives 2020;10 (5);386-388.
  8. Mulrennan S and Colt HG. Medical information and social media in the time of COVID-19. Respirology 2020;25:578-579.
  9. Colt HG and Williamson J. Training in interventional pulmonology: what we have learned and a way forward. Respirology 2020;1-10.doi: 10.1111/resp.13846. Download article here.

Published medical books and most recent book chapters

  1. Colt HG. Introduction to Ethics in Flexible Bronchoscopy. Rake Press, 2025. link here.
  2. Khemasuwan D and Colt HG. Artificial intelligence and computational modeling. In, 3D Lung Models for Regenerating Lung Tissue. Elsevier, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90871-9.00010-3. link here.
  3. Deasy K, Colt HG, Kennedy M. AI in Respirology and Bronchoscopy. In, AI in Clinical Medicine. Wiley-Blackwell pub, 2023. link here.
  4. Colt HG and Murgu S. Bronchoscopy and Central Airway Disorders: A patient-centered approach. Elsevier 2012. link here.
  5. Colt HG. The Essential Bronchoscopist Series. Web-based self-learning guides (English with abundant translations 2018 onward. Rake press. link here.
  6. Colt HG, Quadrelli S, and Friedman L eds. The Picture of Health: Medical Ethics and the Movies. Oxford University press pubs 2011. link here.
  7. Colt HG, Mathur PN. Manual of Pleural Procedures. Lippincott-Williams and Wilkins publishers, Philadelphia 1999.
  8. Colt HG, Jones V. Breast Cancer-related Lung Disease: a guide for patients living with advanced breast cancer. San Diego Prepress, San Diego, CA 2001.
  9. Lee P, Colt HG. Flex-Rigid Pleuroscopy Step-By-Step. CMP Medica, Asia, Singapore 2005.