A MESSAGE FROM OUR 2022 PRESIDENT AND CEO/EVP
In 2022, we began to experience life post pandemic surges, and for our members, that meant reconnecting in person, honoring the lives lost and saved, and celebrating the community and colleagues who are supporters every day.
We gathered for CHEST 2022 in Nashville with great enthusiasm in near record numbers. The robust learning environment of the annual meeting was fully on display, and we eagerly drank in every opportunity to listen to and engage with one another. A long awaited graduation ceremony was held for the fellows of the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022, who walked the stage in their robes. And Past CHEST Presidents, Drs. Stephanie Levine and Steven Q. Simpson, were honored for leading us through the pandemic years.
It was also a year where we turned our attention back to the health issues and lung disorders that didn’t go away just because COVID-19 demanded our attention. Initiatives like First 5 Minutes® and Bridging Specialties™: Timely Diagnosis for ILD, and our investment in the areas of advocacy, equity, and philanthropy, expand the important role CHEST fulfills in advancing the fields of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. CHEST grew our footprint in advocacy connecting with regulators to promote the expansion of access to supplemental oxygen and pulmonary rehab and, conversely, to limit access to harmful tobacco products. We committed to surfacing issues from the community through the recent 2023 release of CHEST Advocates, a new, first-of-its-kind, CHEST publication featuring firsthand insights and issues from clinician advocates, patients, and more.