Growth and Impact

Growth and Impact in 2022

The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) saw tremendous growth in 2023, including increasing its membership to 22,000 global members and publishing research to the newly expanded portfolio of the flagship journal CHEST^®. Practice-defining guidelines launched for managing neuromuscular weakness and antithrombotic therapy management in patients with COVID-19. CHEST also expanded its original initiatives, reaching new audiences.

ON THIS PAGE

2023 Initiatives

DEIB

Advocacy

Philanthropy

Journal CHEST Portfolio

Expert Guidelines

Improving patient care

First 5 Minutes^®

Launched in 2022, the First 5 Minutes focuses on building patient trust to improve outcomes. Initially offered exclusively through in-person workshops, e-learning and virtual reality modules were introduced in 2023. The use of virtual reality allows the learner to practice new skills and build expertise in a safe but dynamic space.

ACCESS FREE MODULES »

“I really think [the program] teaches you that listening is such an important part of being a good physician, but it's also a really important part of just being a good human being—with your friends and with your family. I've started to try and incorporate some of the things I've learned into everyday activities.”
– Doreen Addrizzo-Harris, MD, FCCP, 2023 CHEST President

“I think it's good for us all to look in the mirror from time to time and take a refresher course on how to do this, just to see if we can get even better.”
– Jack D. Buckley, MD, MPH, FCCP, 2024 CHEST President

Bridging Specialties™: Timely Diagnosis for ILD

Focused on improved care and quality of life, Bridging Specialties: Timely Diagnosis for ILD offers primary care physicians and community pulmonologists a clinician-developed toolkit that includes a patient questionnaire, a decision-making tool, and other resources to aid in recognizing and diagnosing lung disorders like pulmonary fibrosis.

In 2023, CHEST created a grant providing $100,000 each to two recipients to implement quality improvement projects surrounding diagnosing ILD, including dissemination of the Bridging Specialties toolkit. CHEST also expanded distribution of the clinician toolkit in 2023 by partnering with the American Medical Association to include the toolkit in its education hub.

To extend the impact of the Bridging Specialties program, in late 2023, CHEST secured a $100,000 grant from the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) that will be used to improve diagnostic excellence through a series of curated articles in the journal CHEST, CME quizzes, and a podcast to be published in 2024.

Kavitha Selvan, MD

Kavitha Selvan, MD, grant recipient
Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow
University of Chicago School of Medicine

Amirahwaty Abdullah, MBBS

Amirahwaty Abdullah, MBBS, grant recipient
Assistant Professor and Critical Care Medicine Associate Program Director
West Virginia University School of Medicine

Increasing diversity and belonging

CHEST is committed to creating an inclusive environment where the diverse experiences and perspectives of all members are amplified, affirmed, and valued. 2023 was a year of important growth and expansion as CHEST formalized its commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).

What do you stand for?

At the beginning of the year, CHEST initiated the process of codifying its core values in support of the mission. A core team of CHEST leaders, members, and staff guided this inclusive effort that resulted in five defined values, which will be reflected in everything CHEST does and will play a key role in all major organizational decisions.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHEST VALUES »

Community

Inclusivity

Innovation

Advocacy

Integrity

INCLUSION, TOGETHER, BELONGING, DIVERSITY, EQUITY

Embracing ʻohana at CHEST 2023

In addition to the yearly commitment to ensure all annual meeting sessions are well-represented by a variety of genders, races, etc., DEIB had a presence throughout CHEST 2023 in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, from sessions to ribbons and stickers declaring individual and organizational commitment.

Fueled by CHEST’s commitment to social responsibility, the annual meeting also placed an intentional focus on meaningful engagement with local communities. The inaugural cohort of the aptly named CHEST Community Connections consisted of three Honolulu-based organizations: Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC), Kōkua Kalihi Valley, and the Hawaiʻi LGBT Legacy Foundation.

Volunteer leaders partnered with WCCHC to facilitate the distribution of 200 needed pediatric and youth valved masks and spacers to visitors at the WCCHC’s Mākeke Farmer’s Market.

Find your community

CHEST Interest Groups launched in 2023 as a vehicle to connect members who share an identity or specific area of focus. Each group collaboratively provides expert guidance on issues within the scope of their specific interest area.

MORE ABOUT INTEREST GROUPS »

Women in Chest Medicine

Serves to develop and support women in the field by equipping them to address unique and common challenges around the impact of sex and gender on lung and sleep health and critical illness.

Respiratory Care

Dedicated to excellence in the field and practice of respiratory care by offering expert guidance and insights on issues that impact patients, communities, and clinicians.

Launching in 2024: LGBTQ+ at CHEST

In the community

Equity and inclusion played a prominent role in the reimagining of CHEST’s philanthropic goals. This transition included an effort to build intentional relationships with social impact organizations local to our Chicagoland headquarters. In June 2023, CHEST was an official sponsor of the Kenneth Young Center’s Northwest Pridefest, which is the northwest suburbs’ largest family-friendly Pride celebration and attracted more than 800 people, including CHEST staff volunteers.

Also in June, CHEST participated in the Skokie United Juneteenth celebration. Volunteers, including CEO, Bob Musacchio, PhD, hosted a table at the all-day outdoor event distributing First 5 Minutes info cards, Love Your Lungs stickers, and relevant patient resources.

PHILANTHROPY AT CHEST »

Internal education and representation

Growth and understanding of the importance of social responsibility and equity became a staff learning goal in 2023. A staff DEIB Committee shared responsibility for planning Lunch and Learn events, identifying and staffing community-based volunteer opportunities, and leading the multi-month process of developing the forthcoming biannual DEIB survey.

The eight Lunch and Learns covered a variety of topics from celebrating unsung Black heroes in medicine to LGBTQ workplace allyship.

Amplifying voices

In recent years, CHEST reaffirmed its commitment as an advocacy voice, informing and shaping policy decisions, legislative action, and more. With a strong focus in 2023 on patient access to care and just rulings for clinicians, CHEST joined the conversations on topics such as:

CHEST also continued its important work in advocating on the harmful impact of tobacco—an effort stretching back to the 1960s. In 2023, CHEST released several statements supporting a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco products, emphasizing the disproportionate impact of smoking-related morbidity and mortality on select communities, and actively representing chest clinicians before legislative committees.

VISIT OUR ADVOCACY PAGE »
CHEST VS TOBACCO THROUGH THE YEARS »

CELEBRATING THE FIGHTER AND THE FIGHT

CHEST Advocates

Launched in 2023, the all-digital CHEST Advocates publication offers readers the information and insights they need to champion important changes in respiratory health from those who are blazing the trail. Each issue features perspectives of frontline organizations, patients, clinicians, and community leaders, using words, images, and multimedia to tell the story.

ISSUE 1: LONG COVID »
ISSUE 2: TOBACCO »

Making a meaningful difference

Philanthropy is familiar to CHEST, having recently celebrated 25 years of the CHEST Foundation. In 2023, CHEST’s philanthropic approach evolved to align with the organizational mission and elevate the value placed on giving, making it a core priority and responsibility of CHEST as an organization. This was a pivotal transformation that now allows CHEST to broaden its scope and deepen its impact, ensuring that every contribution continues to make a meaningful difference.

MORE ABOUT CHEST PHILANTHROPY »

”This is an exciting time to be involved with CHEST philanthropy, and I look forward to sharing the CHEST impact with a new audience and reinvigorating the support of our existing donors.”

– Robert De Marco, MD, FCCP, Chair of the Board of Advisors

”Our goals for CHEST philanthropy connect all of the dots that are important to our members: that philanthropy can advance advocacy; that philanthropy can advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging; and that philanthropy can advance continuing medical education. It can advance diversity in our field, and it's creating that community.”

– Meggie Cramer, MBA, Director of Philanthropy & Advancement

GET TO KNOW MEGGIE »

A measurable impact

In 2023, CHEST aided researchers in acquiring vital clinical data, provided needed medical supplies to families experiencing asthma, connected an up-and-coming medical educator with a mentor, and introduced early career clinicians to the CHEST Annual Meeting. See what CHEST accomplished thanks to our generous donors.

VIEW 2023 PHILANTHROPY IMPACT SHEET »

CLINICAL RESEARCH

Providing Relief From Chronic Rhinosinusitis in Cystic Fibrosis

COMMUNITY IMPACT

Supporting the Local Community in Hawai‘i

DEDICATION TO EDUCATION

Improving Diversity in Respiratory Care

SUPPORT OF THE PROFESSION

Making the CHEST Annual Meeting More Accessible

Looking ahead

CHEST continues to launch many and expanded programs through philanthropy, including grants that will create more avenues to support groundbreaking member research, educate the next generation of chest physicians, and empower the work of our members embedded in communities that need them.

More than half a million dollars will be distributed across our philanthropic pillars in 2024, fueling innovation, education, and research that redefines the landscape of respiratory health.

Sharing the latest research

journal CHEST | CHEST Critical Care | CHEST Pulmonary

In the rapidly changing world of chest medicine, the highly ranked journal CHEST advances patient care by publishing rigorous research, commentary, and clinical insights. The journal also houses CHEST’s multidisciplinary clinical practice guidelines and consensus statements.

The newest additions to the journal CHEST portfolio, CHEST^® Critical Care and CHEST^® Pulmonary published their first research articles in 2023 and are on pace for the first stages of indexation in 2024.

EXPLORE THE JOURNAL CHEST »

10.1
IMPACT
FACTOR

545
PUBLISHED
CONTENT PIECES

15,433
GLOBAL
CIRCULATION*

16,071
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EMAIL RECIPIENTS

169,427
AVERAGE MONTHLY
ONLINE VISITS

*Circulation updated on February 5, 2024, based on 12-month monthly average (July 2022-June 2023) and the added controlled circulation as of the January 2024 issue.

As part of a commitment to expanded DEIB practices, the journal CHEST implemented a double-anonymized peer review process with the goal of reducing bias during manuscript review. The journal also hosted its first implicit bias training with leaders on the journal’s editorial board.

Journal social media in 2023

Each month, the journal offers an array of complementary multimedia activities to expand the reach of the most interesting, timely, and relevant research, including podcasts and visual abstracts.

NUMBER OF VISUAL ABSTRACTS

105

VIEW VISUAL ABSTRACTS »

NUMBER OF EXPERT PODCASTS

LISTEN TO PODCASTS »

3,072
JOURNAL POSTS

60,307
CLICKS TO PUBLISHED RESEARCH

4,000,229
IMPRESSIONS

Follow the Journal CHEST on X (formerly Twitter) »

In the media

Through direct outreach and monthly releases to the press, research published in the journal CHEST appeared 167 times in the media in 2023.

Medscape: Genetics, Lifestyle Jointly Impact IPF Risk

NEJM Journal Watch: Does Low-Dose TMP-SMX Suffice for Non-HIV Pneumocystis Pneumonia?

Healio Pulmonology: Remote pulmonary rehabilitation yields ‘similar improvements’ to in-person program

VIEW ALL MEDIA PLACEMENTS »

Supporting transparency and inclusiveness in publishing

As open access journals, CHEST Pulmonary and CHEST Critical Care feature content that is freely available online. The open access publishing model is integral to increased access to credible scientific study, which promotes transparency, inclusiveness, and collaboration in research. The new journals are part of the journal CHEST’s commitment to keeping pace with the evolving field of scholarly publishing.

CHEST Critical Care

CHEST Critical Care advances the care of patients served by critical care clinicians. Research published in this journal covers topics such as ARDS and acute respiratory failure, end-of-life care, ICU organization, injury, mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, medical education, post-ICU syndrome, sepsis and infections, and shock.

27
ARTICLES PUBLISHED

169
SOCIAL POSTS

144,026
SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

CHEST Pulmonary

CHEST Pulmonary advances the care of patients served by multidisciplinary clinicians across pulmonary and sleep medicine. Research published in this journal covers topics such as asthma, chest infections, COPD, diffuse lung disease, education and clinical practice, pulmonary vascular disease, sleep, and thoracic oncology.

24
ARTICLES PUBLISHED

135
SOCIAL POSTS

132,101
SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

Laura Riordan receiving the Alfred Soffer Award for Editorial Excellence

Awards and recognition

In 2023, the journal CHEST was recognized at the CHEST Annual Meeting 2023 when Laura Riordan, MS, Former Managing Editor and Director of the journal CHEST, received the Alfred Soffer Award for Editorial Excellence. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the CHEST journal.

During Laura’s time as Managing Editor and Director, the CHEST journal had to meet the needs of clinicians navigating the pandemic. She led the journal while the volume of content doubled and published faster than ever before to remain a timely, reliable source of clinically relevant information for all clinicians.

Defining and standardizing best care practices

CHEST’s multidisciplinary guidelines help translate quality evidence into applicable recommendations that enrich patient care and improve health outcomes. Clinicians around the world turn to CHEST clinical practice guidelines for the most relevant interventions in chest medicine.

CHEST continued its annual call for guideline topic submissions in 2023, encouraging all members of the chest medicine community to submit their ideas for new clinical practice guidelines. Submissions for preliminary topic proposals are open through April 8, 2024.

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL »

Published in 2023

Respiratory Management of Patients With Neuromuscular Weakness

Antithrombotic Therapy in Arterial Thrombosis and Thromboembolism in COVID-19

Effect of Race and Ethnicity on Pulmonary Function Testing Interpretation

LOOKING AHEAD

In 2024, the Guidelines Oversight Committee is anticipating the publication of up to eight new guidelines, with topics including non-small cell lung cancer, endobronchial ultrasound, tobacco cessation, central airway obstruction, and more.