In memoriam: Nirmal Charan
Dr. Nirmal Charan, professor emeritus (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine), passed away on December 19, 2025, surrounded by his family. He was 79.
Charan completed medical school in India and residency training in Auckland, New Zealand, before coming to the University of Washington for his pulmonary fellowship, which he finished in 1980.
Soon after, he was invited to the Boise VA (one of the UW teaching hospitals) to start a pulmonary program and develop their intensive care unit. During his tenure there, he built the bronchoscopy service, pulmonary function laboratory, pulmonary consult service, and significantly expanded the ICU. He also launched a pulmonary research program in close collaboration with the UW Pulmonary Division, focusing on the anatomy and physiology of the bronchial circulation.
His work earned him an invitation to join the DaVinci Society, a small international community of scientists devoted to studying the bronchial circulation.
A close friend of Dr. John Butler - founder of the Division of Respiratory Diseases at the UW in 1965 (now the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) - Charan created the John Butler Lung Conference in Butler’s honor following his passing in 1992. The widely attended conference thrived for 21 years and drew participation from DaVinci Society members across Europe, the UK, and Australia.
He also organized additional pulmonary education meetings in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Washington and the University of Colorado, two programs long connected through shared academic interests.
After retiring from the Boise VA in 2008, Charan became director of graduate medical education at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. There, he coordinated rotations for UW medical students and residents and continued to support educational programming for the broader community.
He leaves behind a lasting legacy through the students, residents, fellows, and research partners who learned from him and remained close friends throughout his life.
His wife, Dr. Paula Carvalho, professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine), plans to honor his legacy with a scholarship established in his name.