Advocates of the Year

Henri Colt, MD, FCCP
Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, University of California-Irvine Medical Center

Dr. Colt is Vice-Chair for the ACCP US and Canadian Governors and the ACCP Governor for Southern California. In addition to meeting with his federal legislators as part of the 2009 ACCP Capitol Hill Caucus, Dr. Colt arranged several follow-up meetings with the office of Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA-52) to urge the Congressman to support legislation to address the critical care workforce shortage. As one of the five original ACCP Governors to participate in the ACCP “First-at-Home” Grassroots Advocacy Pilot Project, Dr. Colt also successfully recruited ACCP Grassroots Advocates. Dr. Colt has been accepted and will be participating in the AMA Political Action Committee Campaign School in April 2010.

Pulmonary Health Physicians
Syracuse, New York

Encouraged by their Practice Administrator, Linda Sharp, the six ACCP members of Pulmonary Health Physicians, including Thomas Aiello, DO, FCCP; Edward Downing, MD, FCCP; Sherif El Bayadi, MD, FCCP; Michael Flintrop, MD, FCCP; Xiwu Sun, MD, FCCP; and Manuel Cunanan, MD, have sent a total of 235 messages to Congress since 2003 using the online ACCP Legislative Action Center. The group also posts ACCP Action Alerts in their office waiting area to inform patients of public policies affecting chest medicine.