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Respiratory Care Education Faculty



Barbara A. Ludwig, MA, RRT

Respiratory Care Education Department Chairperson
Assistant Professor

Barbara Ludwig has been on the faculty of the department of respiratory care education since 1972. In 1992 she accepted the position of Interim Chair and has been involved with the strategic planning committees for the School of Allied Health. In 1999 she accepted the position of Chair. She has found time to co-author several CAIs, computer simulations, and a workbook for Clinical Applications of Blood Gases by Barry Shapiro, MD. 4th ed. Ludwig's expertise is in the theory of adult critical care and pulmonary pathology.


Michael P. Czervinske, BS, RRT


Respiratory Care Education Director of Clinical Education
Clinical Instructor

Michael Czervinske teaches pediatric critical care, neonatal (web and onsite courses), and pulmonary diagnostics. Additionally, he participates as a team member for the ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) clinic at KUMC's Landon Center on Aging, sponsored by ALSA. His most recent publication is the textbook Perinatal and Pediatric Respiratory Care, 2cd Edition published in 2003 by Saunders. His writings also include two chapters in another neonatal/pediatric textbook on CPAP and blood gas analysis and monitoring. Other publications include topics on CPAP and pressure limited ventilation. He has served on the neonatal/pediatric clinical practice guideline adhoc committee for the American Association for Respiratory Care.


Bethene L. Gregg, PhD, RRT


Assistant Professor

Dr. Gregg has been on faculty since 1981 and teaches respiratory care procedures and mechanical ventilators. Both courses have labs which is where she spends most of her time. When she's not in lab she's on the computer working to enhance the department's online capabilities through special projects such as the Continuing Education Credits site used by respiratory care practitioners to obtain AARC approved Category 1 CEUs.

She also teaches an education class which has a cybercase project as one of the requirements. The first cybercase was started by Katie Tull '95 who video taped movies, interviewed Chad Jackson '93 and started the review of the literature for what would become the Hyperbaric Oxygen module. It took Dr. Gregg a year and a lot of help from Nellie Modares to learn how to put all the pieces together for that first online cybercase. The HBO document is also linked to the interdisciplinary Case Study: Burn Patient. Since 1996 cybercases have eventually become part of the online continuing education program Respiratory Care WEB ED offered by the department.


Paul J. Mathews, PhD, RRT, FCCM, FCCP


Respiratory Care Education Admissions Coordinator
Associate Professor

Dr. Mathews holds Adjunct Associate Professor status in the Center on Aging, is a content area consultant to the Cancer Center, and is a member of the Physical Therapy Education Graduate faculty – in addition to his roles in the Respiratory Education Department. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Costa Rica.

Mathews is a past president of the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Lambda Beta (Respiratory Care Honor Society), Pi Lambda Theta (Educational Honor Society), and Sigma Xi (Scientific Honor Society). He is also an Honorary Member of the Philippine Society for Respiratory Care, a Life Member of the AARC, Life Member of the Respiratory Care Management Association, a Project HOPE International Fellow, and a Fellow of the College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM) and of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP).

He has served as a consultant to the FDA, USPHS, SUNY-Stony Brook, the government of Costa Rica, and the Mexican Respiratory Care Association. Professor Mathews has published numerous papers, essays, and columns in the professional literature, several books and book chapters, and has presented papers at many national and international professional meetings.