David H. Au, MD, MS

A longtime favorite for ATS International Conference attendees, the Meet-the-Professor Seminars feature speakers who hone in on topics within their scope of clinical care and research expertise.

“The presenters have recognized nuances that they have picked up over time in the management of specific conditions,” said International Conference Committee Chair David H. Au, MD, MS, associate professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle. “The Meet the Professors Seminars provide an opportunity for attendees to interact with these individuals and learn from their expertise.”

ATS will offer 52 Meet-the-Professor Seminars — with 18 on Sunday, May 20; 18 on Monday, May 21; and 16 on Tuesday, May 22. Seating is limited and pre-registration is required for these one-hour lunch sessions.

Gwen Skloot, MD

An expert in asthma, with a focus on the association between obesity and asthma, Gwen Skloot, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, will present MP416 “Obesity and Asthma Overlap: Insight into Pathophysiology and Treatment Strategies” on Sunday.

For Dr. Skloot, it is important for clinicians to understand the scope of this growing problem and to gain insight into how obesity may lead to asthma.

“Asthma and obesity have both reached epidemic proportions, and the overlap between the two entities is recognized but not completely understood. The obese asthmatic poses a particularly difficult problem for the clinician in terms of establishing a diagnosis and gaining control of asthma that may be more severe and complicated by comorbidities,” Dr. Skloot said.

In many cases, these patients are treated as any other asthmatic without recognizing that they may represent a unique phenotype. This seminar will address this learning gap and help participants gain knowledge about the pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and management of asthma in the obese individual.

Barbara Phillips, MD, MSPH

A specialist in pulmonary sleep disorders, Barbara Phillips, MD, MSPH, will present another Sunday seminar, MP418 “Women and Sleep.”

One of the challenges in assessing the prevalence and impact of insomnia in women is its definition, with different authoritative organizations offering various definitions, Dr. Phillips said, adding that insomnia and sleep deprivation are often confused. “The true prevalence and outcomes of insomnia are unknown because in clinical practice and in most large population-based studies or surveys, insomnia is very much in the mind of the beholder.”

Dr. Phillips is a professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine and medical director of the sleep laboratory at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington. She will review data about the epidemiology of sleep complaints and disorders in women, including insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing and restless legs syndrome. She also will examine the relationship of sleep disorders with heart disease in women, and changes in sleep and in the perception of sleep at and after menopause.

Christian Sandrock, MD, MPH

Christian Sandrock, MD, MPH, has made it his life’s work to investigate the implications of large-scale disasters on pulmonary infections. Dr. Sandrock will present MP509 “Pulmonary Infections After Disasters” on Monday.

“In recent years, we have seen the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, tornadoes, repeat hurricanes and pandemic influenza. These international and regional disasters lead to unique pulmonary infections, including mycobacterial disease, fungal pneumonia and drug-resistant bronchiectasis. We will review these unique pulmonary infections and their relationship with disasters,” said Dr. Sandrock, an associate professor of medicine and medical director of the Intensive Care Unit at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine,

Recognition of these unusual infections is paramount to clinical care in the post-disaster setting.

“Both typical and atypical mycobacterial infections were seen after the Southeast Asian and Japanese tsunamis, leading to some cases of delayed recognition and prolonged treatment,” Dr. Sandrock said.

He will review the current medical literature and public health response data, giving attendees the means to more appropriately recognize and provide early treatment for lung infections post-disaster.