New York, NY – July 13, 2021– The ATS Research Program is pleased to announce that William Zhang, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical Center is the recipient of the 2020-2021 ATS/CSL Behring Research Award in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. The $50,000 award will support Dr. Zhang’s research study, “Hyperferritinemia in COVID-19 ARDS: Friend or Foe?”
ARDS is a life-threatening illness in which the lungs are severely inflamed and injured. Tissue damage throughout the lungs causes tiny air sacs (alveoli) to be injured and blood vessels to leak fluid. The alveoli then fill with fluid and can collapse, preventing the lungs from working well.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are again reminded of the devastating impact of ARDS in public health,” said Michelle Gong, MD, MS, chair of the ATS Critical Care Assembly. “Almost all patients who die of COVID-19, die because of ARDS from COVID-19. While there have been breakthroughs in treatment of COVID-19, most are directed at patients with milder diseases rather than patients on mechanical ventilators. This partnership with CSL Behring brings an important opportunity to focus on improving survival and long-term function and outcomes in ARDS and in the sickest patients affected by respiratory pandemic like COVID-19.”
“Congratulations to Dr. Zhang on being the recipient of the ATS/CSL Behring Research Award in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome,” said Lars Groenke, MD, CSL Behring’s vice president for R&D Respiratory. “Supporting Dr. Zhang’s study is another example of the strength of CSL Behring’s ongoing partnership with ATS as we work together to fund promising research that has the potential to help patients impacted by serious respiratory diseases like ARDS. As an organization that is driven by its promise to patients, CSL Behring looks forward to working with ATS as we continue to support emerging investigators through our partnership.”
The application process will open for the next cycle of grant opportunities will open July 20, 2021. For more, visit the website here.
Interested applicants may hear more about this grant opportunity here.
About the ATS Research Program The American Thoracic Society and its Research Program are improving respiratory health worldwide by supporting young investigators in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. The ATS Research Program, established in 2004, bolsters new investigators as they strive to launch independent research careers dedicated to innovation in patient care.
Since 2004, the Research Program has awarded $21.9 million in research grants to 321 investigators who have gone on to secure more than $491 million in federal funding. That’s a return on investment of $22 per dollar awarded.
About CSL Behring CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader driven by its promise to save lives. Focused on serving patients’ needs by using the latest technologies, the company develops and delivers innovative therapies that are used to treat coagulation disorders, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema, respiratory disease, and neurological disorders. The company’s products are also used in cardiac surgery, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic disease of the newborn. CSL Behring operates one of the world’s largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX:CSL;USOTC:CSLLY), headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs more than 27,000 people worldwide, and delivers its life-saving therapies to people in more than 100 countries. For inspiring stories about the promise of biotechnology, visit Vita at CSLBehring.com/Vita and follow us on Twitter.com/CSLBehring.
