As the premier gathering of clinicians and scientists committed to advancing pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine, the ATS International Conference is an important venue for recognizing individuals who are leaders in these fields for the extraordinary contributions to and achievements in lung disease research, treatment, and prevention. The following individuals will be honored at an awards ceremony from 4:45 to 6:30 p.m. today in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center.

Ronald Crystal

AMBERSON LECTURER
Ronald Crystal, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College, will deliver the Amberson Lecture, named in honor of Dr. James Burns Amberson and given by a leader in basic or clinical research or in clinical care. Dr. Crystal is an internationally recognized scientist who has made significant contributions to the understanding of fibrotic lung disease, alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, cystic fibrosis, cigarette smoking, oxidants-antioxidants, HIV infection, COPD, gene therapy, normal lung biology, and the development of therapies for a variety of lung diseases. His translational research program includes many projects in the fields of genetic therapies and personalized medicine, in which information and data from an individual’s genotype or level of gene expression are used to guide treatment.

Michael Matthay

TRUDEAU MEDAL
Michael Matthay, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, will be awarded the Trudeau Medal, the Society’s highest honor. The medal recognizes an individual’s lifelong contributions to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of lung disease through leadership in research, education, or clinical care. Dr. Matthay’s research has defined the major mechanisms of alveolar fluid clearance and dissected their role in human disease with a particular focus on acute lung injury and ARDS. His research has been used as the foundation for a number of major clinical trials that he helped to design.

Bonnie Ramsey

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Bonnie Ramsey, MD, of Seattle Children’s Hospital, and William Rom, MD, MPH, of the New York University School of Medicine, will both receive Distinguished Achievement Awards, which recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to fighting respiratory disease through research, education, patient care, or advocacy.

Dr. Ramsey created the CF Foundation Therapeutics Development Network and Coordinating Center, which involves more than 70 of the largest CF centers in the U.S. and has conducted or participated in most of the seminal studies involving new therapeutics in CF in the last 15 years.

William Rom

Dr. Rom is the director of the Division of Pulmonary and Clinical Care Medicine at NYU and has headed the Bellevue Chest Service for the past 25 years. He is a leading activist for the recognition and study of the effects of climate change on human health.

John Newman

OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR AWARD
John Newman, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will receive the Outstanding Educator Award. Dr. Newman, whose research interests focus on pulmonary circulation, has educated medical students, house staff, faculty, and other members of the health care team at Vanderbilt, including respiratory therapists, and has mentored over 19 fellows since 1980. In 2010 he was selected to lead the Vanderbilt medical student physiology course, for which he compiled and delivers 15 pulmonary physiology lectures.

Robert Hyzy

PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD
Robert Hyzy, MD, of the University of Michigan, will receive the Public Service Award for contributions in respiratory public health. New this year, the Public Service Award and the World Lung Health Award have an added focus on health care inequality and those individuals whose efforts have the potential to eliminate gender, racial, ethnic, or economic health disparities worldwide. Dr. Hyzy has made seven medical trips to Peru since 2007 as part of Amazon Promise, a nonprofit organization that provides free medical services and education to residents of jungle villages in Loreto, Peru’s largest and poorest province.

Heather Zar

WORLD LUNG HEALTH AWARD
Heather Zar, MD, PhD, of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is the recipient of the World Lung Health Award. New this year, the World Lung Health Award and Public Service Award have an added focus on health care inequality and those individuals whose efforts have the potential to eliminate gender, racial, ethnic, or economic health disparities worldwide. Dr. Zar, an internationally renowned pediatric pulmonologist, has dedicated her career to eliminating childhood health disparities in Africa and developing countries worldwide. Her research efforts, clinical care, and advocacy have all focused on improving the pulmonary health of children from underdeveloped countries, including asthma, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and human immunodeficiency virus-associated lung diseases.

Renee Stapleton

JO RAE WRIGHT AWARDEE FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE
Renee Stapleton, MD, PhD, of the University of Vermont College of Medicine, will receive the Jo Rae Wright Award for Outstanding Science. The late Dr. Wright was the first PhD scientist to head the ATS, an outstanding researcher, and an extraordinary educator. The award is given in her memory and recognizes a rising generation of individuals who have the potential to be scientific leaders. Dr. Stapleton is a leading researcher in clinical studies in the intensive care unit and has published papers in prominent national journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine.

Fredric N. Jackson

OUTSTANDING CLINICIAN AWARD
Fredric N. Jackson, MD, director of respiratory therapy and critical care at the Highline Medical Center in Burien, WA, will receive this year’s Outstanding Clinician Award, which recognizes a pulmonary, critical care or sleep clinician who spends at least 75 percent of his/her time providing direct patient care and is recognized by patients and families as a caring and dedicated health care provider and by his/her peers as having made substantial contributions to the clinical care of patients with respiratory disease. Dr. Jackson also practices at the Regional Hospital and Swedish Hospital Medical Center.