In plain English
Pulmonary medicine covers the airways and lungs, sleep-disordered breathing in many practices, and procedures such as bronchoscopy. In the United States the fellowship is most often combined with critical care medicine, so the same physician runs an outpatient clinic and staffs an intensive care unit.
That combination is why pulmonology is a hospital-centred specialty despite having a busy clinic side. A record may show pulmonary disease, critical care medicine, or the combined code, and for most purposes the three should be treated as one population.
Sleep medicine is a separate certificate that pulmonologists, neurologists, psychiatrists and otolaryngologists can all hold, so it is not a reliable proxy for any single specialty.
Training and credentials
An internal medicine residency, then a fellowship in pulmonary disease - usually combined with critical care - of about three years, and board certification.
Where they practise
Hospital intensive care units, pulmonary clinics, sleep laboratories, academic centres.
Pulmonologists on the public record
Counted from what providers file about themselves, with suppression applied before anything is counted, refreshed 2026-10-05. Names, specialties and practice locations are public; work email and phone are for signed-in customers.
| State | On record | With work email | With practice phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,958 | 1,364 70% | 1,958 |
| New York | 1,532 | 1,165 76% | 1,532 |
| Florida | 1,483 | 966 65% | 1,482 |
| Texas | 1,361 | 923 68% | 1,361 |
| Pennsylvania | 995 | 756 76% | 995 |
| Ohio | 793 | 620 78% | 793 |
| Illinois | 751 | 591 79% | 751 |
| New Jersey | 728 | 468 64% | 728 |
Closely related, and where to find them.
Closely related
- Internal medicine physician Adult general medicine, and the classification most sub-specialties are filed beneath.
- Anesthesiologist Anaesthesia, pain medicine and critical care - and the care team that delivers them.
- Infectious disease physician A small consultative specialty with outsized say over antimicrobials and diagnostics.
Find them
- Pulmonologists list counts by state, the fields a record carries, a sample record.
- Physicians physician data by specialty, state and employer.
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