American Thoracic Society Announces Leadership for 2022-2023

May 17, 2022 – Today at its annual Membership Meeting, the slate of officers to serve on the American Thoracic Society’s Executive Committee for the 2021-2022 term were approved by the membership. Effective immediately, the full make-up of the Executive Committee will consist of the following:

• Gregory Downey, MD, ATSF, Incoming President
  • Downey is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and immunology and genomic medicine at National Jewish Health where he also serves as executive vice president of Academic Affairs, and provost. He is also professor of medicine and immunology and microbiology and associate dean of Health Affairs at the University of Colorado in Denver.

• Patricia Rivera, MD, ATSF, President-Elect
  • Rivera is the C. Jane Davis & C. Robert Davis Distinguished Professor in Pulmonary Medicine, as well as chief, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She also serves as adjunct professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the co-director of the North Carolina Lung Screening Registry. Dr. Rivera originally founded the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening Program at UNC.

• Irena Petrache, MD, ATSF, Vice President
  • Petrache is a professor of medicine at National Jewish Health, where she has served as the chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine since 2015. She also holds an appointment as professor in the Department of Medicine and the Pharmacology Graduate Program, University of Colorado, Denver.

• Lynn Schnapp, MD, ATSF, Immediate Past-President
  • Schnapp is the George R. and Elaine Love professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She is a faculty member in the division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

• Jesse Roman, MD, Treasurer
  • Roman, elected in 2022, will serve as the ATS Treasurer through 2025. He has been a member of the ATS since 1988, and he is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, having served as a founding leader of the Health Equity Subcommittee within the Health Equity and Diversity Committee. He is currently with Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, PA, where he serves as the Ludwig Kind Professor of Medicine; enterprise division chief, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; and director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program. Dr. Roman also serves as CEO of the Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute of Jefferson Health and National Jewish Health. 

Karen Collishaw, MPP, CAE, the Society’s Chief Executive Officer, is the sixth member of the Executive Committee.

Looking ahead to the coming year, Dr. Downey, ATS President, said, “I am looking forward to a great year during which my focus will be: expanding the educational offerings year-round, cultivating new partnerships to grow the ATS Research Program as well as enhancing our strategies for disseminating new science.”

Each elected member of the Executive Committee currently serves a term of four years, culminating in their tenure as president in year three of their service. During their fourth year these individuals serve as immediate past president. In addition to overseeing all aspects of ATS activities the Executive Committee represents the Society with peer organizations and formulates strategic priorities which are then shared with the full Board of Directors for consideration.

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Gregory Downey, MD, ATSF is taking the helm as @atscommunity president! We look forward to this next chapter. @gregory1downey @NJHealth https://bit.ly/38AlwZB