This year’s International Conference offers attendees several avenues for networking with colleagues—from an engaging new tool called “My ATS 2011” to several onsite areas that will allow participants to connect in informal settings. Such opportunities often foster connections that lead to joint research projects, referrals, jobs, grants and published papers.
My ATS 2011
“My ATS 2011” by Zerista is a desktop and mobile software through which attendees can see who else will be at the conference, make connections and network before, during and after the meeting. Create your profile and begin searching for attendees with similar interests, speakers you’d like to meet or former colleagues.
Use “My ATS 2011” to build your conference agenda for each day and to search the program by topic, speaker, track or day. Once sessions are added to your agenda, you can review the other individuals who plan to attend that session.
Fellows & Junior Professionals Exchange
The Fellows & Junior Professionals Exchange is an annual event for residents, fellows, post-docs and other junior professionals. This one-hour program, which begins at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, following the Opening Ceremony, allows attendees to network and mingle with peers, as well as provides a brief orientation about the International Conference. This year’s exchange will take place in Upper Lobby D of the Colorado Convention Center.
Alumni & Group Lounges
The ATS has set aside dedicated Alumni Lounges for U.S. attendees to meet and network with fellow alumni from their training programs, clinical research groups or investigators in a relaxed atmosphere. Several groups are slated to gather in Alumni Lounges 1 and 2 in the Exhibit Hall. Most of these groups are private; however, “Remembering Al: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Alvin S. Teirstein,” which will take place from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 15, in Alumni Lounge 1, is open for all to attend.
Center for Fellows & Junior Professionals
The Center for Fellows and Junior Professionals is a networking and career development forum for residents, fellows, junior professionals and faculty. Each day, there will be workshops and career expert events that will address issues that fellows, junior faculty members and others who have recently completed their training face. The center is supported by educational grants from Genentech and Novartis.
The center will be located in Room 111-113 of the Colorado Convention Center (on street level). It will be open Sunday, May 15, through Tuesday, May 17.
Among the resources that attendees can pick up at the center are copies of a Road Map that highlight sessions of interest to fellows and a guide for members of the interdisciplinary team, as well as the Society’s Grant Resource Guide and Consider This!brochure.
Each day, a complimentary breakfast will be served beginning at 7 a.m. and a social hour with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will take place from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Women’s & Diversity Forums
Supported by an educational grant from Merck, the Women’s Forum highlights the advancement of women in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine and features the recognition of the 2011 Elizabeth A. Rich MD awardee, Serpil Erzurum, MD, professor and chair of the Pathobiology Department and Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. Anne Dixon, BM, BCh, chair of the ATS Membership Committee, will host the event, which will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, May 15, in the Silverton Ballroom in the Embassy Suites Hotel (across from the Colorado Convention Center). The guest speaker will be The Hon. Barbara O’Brien, PhD, lieutenant governor of Colorado from 2007 to 2011, and senior fellow at The Piton Foundation, Denver.
Supported by an educational grant from Merck, the Diversity Forum focuses on career development of minorities and on disparities in healthcare. The program will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, May 16, in the Silverton Ballroom in the Embassy Suites Hotel (across from the Colorado Convention Center). It features the presentation of the 2011 Minority Trainee Travel Awards, which are also supported by an educational grant from Merck. This host will be Yolanda Mageto, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington. The guest speaker will be Estelle Gauda, MD, chair of the MTTA Subcommittee, and a professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Please note: These two events occur on a different day of the week than in previous years.
International Pavilion
Learn about products and services available in your respective country, but that are not approved in the U.S. The International Pavilion is provided as a service to international attendees. Located in the Exhibit Hall, the area includes the International Product Theater and the International Participant Center, where you can meet friends or associates in a lounge, check e-mail or grab a cup of coffee.