Class of 1976

Year Inducted 2016

David Mannino attended Westbrook Park Elementary School and Beverly Hills Junior High School before graduating from UDHS in 1976.  While at UDHS, he was active in the band, orchestra, and was a page editor for The Acorn. He participated in the All School Show, Hi Q team, Community Service Corps and was a member of the National Honor Society.   David did not attend his graduation ceremony at UDHS because he was already enrolled in summer classes at The Pennsylvania State University and Jefferson Medical College as part of their integrated program. David completed his undergraduate studies in 18 months and graduated with a medical degree in 1981 at the age of 23. He made up for missing his graduation by attending his 40th reunion and Wall of Fame induction on the same weekend in 2016.

David completed his Internal Medicine residency at Lankenau Hospital in 1984, after which he joined the United States Public Health Service.  After serving at posts in Lexington, Kentucky (chief medical officer at the Lexington Federal Penitentiary) and Morgantown, West Virginia (a Pulmonary Fellowship at the West Virginia University School of Medicine), he transferred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.  There he helped develop the National Asthma Program.

In 2004, Dr. Mannino retired from the USPHS and joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky as an associate professor and head of their COPD research. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is the #3 cause of death in America. He is currently Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health in the College of Public Health and holds the Kurt W. Deuschle Endowed Chair in Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health. He is also the Director of Graduate Studies, Master of Science in Clinical Research Design and Director of Pulmonary Epidemiology Research Laboratory.  He is a leading national and international researcher in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with over 400 publications and 30,000 citations, and is currently the top COPD researcher in the US, and third in the world.  He is a founding board member of the COPD Foundation which strives to improve the quality of life through research, education, early diagnosis and enhanced therapy for COPD sufferers. He also serves as its Chief Scientific Officer. 

David is grateful to his sisters Elaine (’74), Donna (’78) and Lois (’83) for their support over the years, as well as his parents, the late David Mannino, Jr. and Helen Mannino.  In 2017, he retired from his position at the University of Kentucky and joined GlaxoSmithKline as a Medical Expert focused on COPD.