Two leaders from the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine presented honor lectures at this year’s American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) annual meeting, which took place on October 8–11, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Building Trust With Patients at the End of Life
Margaret Pisani, MD, MPH, professor of medicine (pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine), was selected to give the Roger C. Bone Memorial Lecture in Critical Care, which was established in 1997 to honor Dr. Roger C. Bone, Master FCCP, a leader in critical care and sepsis research. The award is given to a CHEST Fellow (FCCP) and world-renowned visionary in pulmonary and critical care medicine, according to the CHEST website.
“Dr. Bone was a pulmonary and critical care physician who spent his career studying sepsis and performing clinical trials in critical care,” Pisani said. “When he developed an illness, he became an advocate for end-of-life care.”
Pisani learned about the importance of end-of-care life from one of her first attendings in the ICU, when she was an intern, and she has carried those teachings with her ever since.
“Caring for patients and families in the ICU during such a vulnerable time is one of the privileges of working as a doctor in the ICU,” Pisani said. “I am honored to be the first woman to receive this award, especially given all of the amazing women who work in critical care.”
Caring for patients and families in the ICU during such a vulnerable time is one of the privileges of working as a doctor in the ICU.
Margaret Pisani, MD, MPH
Pisani’s lecture, titled “Honoring Lessons From the ICU: Carrying Forward Patient, Caregiver, and Team Wisdom,” focused on how personal and professional experiences impact the way practitioners care for their patients and addressed the importance of working as a team and learning from patients, families, and others.
Pisani’s involvement with CHEST began when, as a pulmonary and critical care fellow, she had the opportunity to present her research at the national meeting. She has been a member of the Scientific Program Committee, chair of the Women’s Lung Health Network, and a member of the Critical Care and Sleep Medicine networks. She is the current vice chair of both the Council of Networks and the Women in Chest Medicine group. She has received recognition as a Distinguished Chest Educator annually since 2017.
Pisani takes pride in serving as a mentor to several trainees who have received funding from CHEST for their research and to others who have received recognition for their poster and abstracts at the CHEST Annual Meeting.
Lung Cancer: A Modern and Changing Disease
Lynn Tanoue, MD, MBA, professor of medicine (pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine), was chosen to give the Richard S. Irwin, MD, Master FCCP Honor Lecture, which honors Dr. Richard S. Irwin’s lifelong contributions in pulmonary and critical care medicine. The award is given to a member of CHEST who is a clinical leader in PCCM recognized for advocating for patients, research and practice improvements in advancing patient-focused care, and duration of work in the field, according to the CHEST website.
“Dr. Irwin is one of the giants in pulmonary medicine —in addition to serving as president of the American College of Chest Physicians and editor in chief of the journal CHEST, he has contributed to patient care, research, and education in countless ways over his long and distinguished career,” Tanoue said. “It was a great privilege to be selected to give his honor lecture this year.”
Tanoue’s lecture, titled “Lung Cancer—The Evolution and Changing Presentations of a Modern Disease,” detailed the way lung cancer has changed since it was first recognized as an epidemic problem in the latter half of the 20th century.
The lung cancer epidemic parallels the tobacco epidemic, Tanoue explained. The general clinical concept of lung cancer is still shaped by observations made in the 20th century, largely in lung cancer patients who were very heavy smokers, she said. However, lung cancer has been evolving, relating to changes in cigarette composition and how people smoke, and also by changes in exposures in the world around us, she noted.
“We need to recognize that lung cancer is not the same disease as it was in the late 20th century— who gets lung cancer, how it presents, and how it is evaluated and treated are all changing, and we have to be aware of this so that we provide patients with the best care,” she said.
We need to recognize that lung cancer is not the same disease as it was in the late 20th century— who gets lung cancer, how it presents, and how it is evaluated and treated are all changing, and we have to be aware of this so that we provide patients with the best care.
Lynn Tanoue, MD, MBA
Tanoue has been a member of CHEST since she was a fellow at Yale School of Medicine. Since then, she has been actively involved with the association, including serving as chair of the Thoracic Oncology Network, serving on the Lung Cancer Guidelines writing committee, and publishing in CHEST. She was lead author of “Standardizing the Reporting of Incidental, Non-Lung Cancer (Category S) Findings Identified on Lung Cancer Screening Low-Dose CT Imaging,” published in CHEST last year. Tanoue was recently elected to the Board of Regents, CHEST’s governing body.
“It is great to see two of the leaders of Yale-PCCSM be recognized in the same conference with such prestigious awards,” said Naftali Kaminski, MD, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) and chief of the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. “And they are well deserving—their contributions to their respective fields, as scholars, leaders, and role models have been exceptional. We are all proud!”
The Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine is one of the eleven sections within Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine. To learn more about Yale-PCCSM, visit PCCSM's website, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.