At the American Thoracic Society 2018 International Congress, held in May 2018, UVM E.L. Amidon Chair of Medicine Polly Parsons, M.D., was installed as president, and she and Larner College of Medicine colleagues Jason Bates, Ph.D., Sc.D., Anne Dixon, M.A., B.M., B.Ch., and Renee Stapleton, M.D., Ph.D., were inducted as the inaugural class of ATS Fellows.
Polly Parsons, M.D., E.L. Amidon Chair of Medicine (Photo: UVM Medical Communications)
University of Vermont E.L. Amidon Chair of Medicine Polly Parsons, M.D., was installed as president of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) during the organization’s 2018 International Congress, held in San Diego, Calif., May 20 to 23. The position is a one-year term.
In addition, Parsons and three Larner College of Medicine colleagues, including Jason Bates, Ph.D., Sc.D., Anne Dixon, M.A., B.M., B.Ch., and Renee Stapleton, M.D., Ph.D., were inducted as the inaugural class of ATS Fellows at the event.
With a mission to improve health worldwide by advancing research, clinical care, and public health in respiratory disease, critical illness, and sleep disorders, the ATS has more than 15,000 physicians, research scientists, and nurses and other allied healthcare professionals among its members. The Fellow designation – ATSF – is a mark of distinction for ATS members who have demonstrated dedication to the Society and made significant contributions to the fields of pulmonary, critical care, and/or sleep medicine.
A member of the ATS since 1989, Parsons was elected as secretary-treasurer in 2015 and has moved up the leadership ranks as vice president and president-elect prior to president. She has served on several ATS committees, including Members in Transition and Training, Nominating, Finance, Publications Policy, Clinicians Advisory, Membership, Assembly on Critical Care Planning, Program and Budget, as well as on the ATS Foundation Board of Directors. She also served as the chair of the Training Committee, and chaired both the Multisociety Task Force for Critical Care Research and the Multisociety Task Force on Competencies in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Parsons is the recipient of the 2006 Elizabeth A. Rich Award, the 2013 Distinguished Achievement Award and in 2017, was honored with the ATS Assembly on Critical Care 9th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award. She has long-standing interests in research, education, and patient care and her specific area of research focus is acute lung injury and critical illness. Parson’s work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and she has served on several research review and advisory committees, including the National Heart Lung and Blood Scientific Advisory Council, NHLBI Clinical Trials Review Committee, the FDA Pulmonary and Allergy Drug Advisory Committee, and the Scientific Council of the Francis Families Foundation.
An expert in lung mechanics and the inventor of the Flexivent ventilator, Bates is a professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary medicine and is also an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Dixon, who is a professor of medicine and the director of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, has a stellar national and international reputation in the field of asthma, holding membership on NIH study sections, review panels, and the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ Office of Research and Development Merit Review Award Program subcommittee.
An associate professor of medicine and pulmonary and critical care specialist, Stapleton’s clinical and research expertise lies in the areas of nutrition in critical care, end of life care, acute lung injury and general pulmonary and critical care. She is the 2014 recipient of the ATS’s Jo Rae Wright Award for Outstanding Science.
Learn more about the ATS.