Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a group of lung diseases that cause airflow obstruction and other respiratory problems. There are various options for treating COPD, including the highly effective controller medication that helps improve a patient's lung function in the long-term. But as Antonio R. Anzueto, MD, professor of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Texas Health, San Antonio, explains, it is not easy for patients to use these medications.
Listen as Dr. Anzueto and host Amy Attaway, MD, Cleveland Clinic, discuss the effectiveness of different COPD treatments, how COPD can affect other organs, and how AI might play into diagnosing COPD as technology advances.
Support for this podcast is brought to you by Viatris and Theravance BioPharma.
Vaping and e-cigarettes are often incorrectly thought of as safer alternatives to traditional tobacco products, but research has proven that to be untrue. Laura Crotty Alexander, MD, from the University of California, San Diego, explains to host Erika Moseson, MD, MA, that not only does vaping often lead to users moving on to traditional tobacco products, but it also has a major impact on mental health and mood that could be deadly.
Check out the ATS Clinical Practice Guideline on treating smoking in adolescents: https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.202507-1577ST
Learning how to perform procedures on patients is an important part of medical training, but how do programs decide what to teach? And how do they integrate the latest technology? Host Eddie Qian, MD, from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, talks to Meredith Pugh, MD, MSCI, and Kaele Leonard, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Together, they discuss how they think about working with trainees and fellows when it comes to teaching important procedures.
On this episode of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast, host Amy Attaway, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, continues her discussion with asthma expert Njira Lugogo, MD, of University of Michigan. They talk about collaborations in the pulmonary field, the importance of clinical trials, and career advice for those looking to join the field of pulmonology.
In case you missed it, check out part one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ubMlFuqsVI
Federal cuts to the the NIH and other key research organizations have left both researchers and patients paying the price. Erika Moseson, MD, of the Air Health Our Heath podcast, talks with Mary Rice, MD, MPH, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, about how these cuts have not only hurt her research on helping patients with respiratory illnesses, but the larger impact they have on science now and for future generations.
Read the article in STAT News about Dr. Rice's study: https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/08/trump-cuts-include-cost-saving-research/
In light of the news of Paul Offit, MD, being fired from the FDA’s advisory committee on vaccines by Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr., as well as Florida’s decision to end school vaccine mandates, we are re-releasing this vital episode on the importance of vaccines.
On this episode of ATS Breathe Easy, host Patti Tripathi welcomes two leading experts to discuss the critical role of vaccines in protecting children and high-risk populations. Dr. Offit, renowned scientist and vaccine advocate, and Tina Hartert, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Asthma Research, provide an in-depth look at vaccine policies, hesitancy, and the consequences of declining immunization rates, including a measles outbreak.
Check out the ATS Vaccine Resource Center for more information: https://site.thoracic.org/clinicians-researchers/vaccine-resource-center
On this week's episode of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast, host Amy Attaway, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, talks with Reynold Panettieri, MD, from Rutgers University on the BATURA trial, an at-home trial for those with moderate-to-severe asthma which ended early due to its highly successful results. Asthma patient Heather also talks about how the medication tested in the study, known as AIRSUPRA, has helped her manage her asthma better than ever before.
The BATURA Trial: https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJMoa2504544
As anti-inflammatory rescue therapies begin making their way to patients with asthma, new questions about implementation of this life-saving therapy are emerging, prompting more exciting research from scientists and clinicians. In the first part of this mini-series on anti-inflammatory rescue therapies, host Amy Attaway, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, discusses these questions and more with asthma expert Njira Lugogo, MD, of University of Michigan.
This episode of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast is supported in part by AstraZeneca.
Artificial intelligence is a tool that clinicians and researchers are implementing in their practices and research, but what about its use in teaching the newest generation of doctors? Richard M. Schwartzstein, MD, of Harvard Medical School, discusses using AI for diagnostic education and developing cases, how it can work as a physician-support tool, and more with host Eddie Qian, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two!
Amy Attaway, MD, hosts the latest ATS Breathe Easy episode with former ATS President Monica Kraft, MD, and Asthma and Allergy Network's Chief Research Officer, De De Gardner, DrPH, discuss the benefits and challenges of biologics for asthma. What factors guide selection of a specific biologic for asthma? When should a patient transition from one biologic to another? This episode of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast is supported in part by AstraZeneca.
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two!
Rolling back major EPA policies that protect our health from air pollution exposure is dangerous and even fatal in some cases. This episode features the chair and vice-chair of the ATS Environmental Health Policy Committee, Alison Lee, MD, (Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai) and Gillian Goobie, MD, PhD (University of British Columbia). Patti Tripathi hosts.
Resources:
The Southern California Children’s Health Study
The Ella Roberta Foundation
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two!
Erika Moseson, MD, of the Air Health Our Heath podcast hosts this week's episode with guest Daniel Croft, MPH, ATSF. Dr. Croft is associate professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. On this episode we share insights from the Climate Change and Respiratory Health: Opportunities to Contribute to Environmental Justice: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report.
For additional discussion on environmental health, please also view our recent Breathe Easy episode 12 “EPA Rollbacks Spell Grave Impacts on Public Health” for an up-to-date discussion of current national changes related to health care, environmental health and environmental justice.
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two!
On this episode of ATS Breathe Easy, host Patti Tripathi welcomes two leading experts to discuss the critical role of vaccines in protecting children and high-risk populations. Paul Offit, MD, renowned scientist and vaccine advocate, and Tina Hartert, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Asthma Research, provide an in-depth look at vaccine policies, hesitancy, and the consequences of declining immunization rates.
The second part of our ATS Breathe Easy series on the SOAR Act, in collaboration with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA). This episode was first posted on PHA's PH Insights podcast.
Host Jaeger Spratt, MSW, highlights the voices of long-time pulmonary hypertension patient advocates Amy Burant and Colleen Connor, who share their experiences with oxygen access and how those challenges have shaped their journeys with this illness and using supplemental oxygen. They also discuss their advocacy work and call on all members of lung disease communities, especially health care professionals, to advocate for the SOAR Act and help lung disease patients breathe easier.
The Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform Act (SOAR Act) is a piece of pending legislation establishes certain requirements with respect to the payment and provision of supplemental oxygen and related services under Medicare. But how would this legislation affect patients, and how is the ATS Nursing Assembly leading the charge in advocating for their needs? Host Patti Tripathi explores this question, and more, with Susan Jacobs, RN, MS, research nurse manager at Stanford University; and Jaeger Spratt, MSW, advocacy and treatment access program manager at the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. This episode is the first in a two-part series collaboration with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association podcast, PH Insights.
The Pulmonary Hypertension Association Advocacy Action Center: https://phassociation.org/advocate/
Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlights Package.
Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!
At the 2025 ATS International Conference, Joshua Fessel, MD, PhD, ATSF, formerly of the NIH, and Shade Afolabi, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist practicing in Texas, sat down to discuss the extensive ramifications the cuts to the NIH caused researchers, clinicians, and patients. With host Erika Moseson, MD, MA, they explore the effects of losing funding on critical research projects, how patient families have been dealing with pauses on disease research, and how the field can help retain and support early career professionals affected by these policy decisions.
Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package.
Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!
On this episode of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast, meet the newly-elected ATS President, Raed Dweik, MD, MBA, ATSF. Host Amy Attaway, MD, MS, talks with Dr. Dweik on his vision for the ATS, and what he is most excited for in the fields of respiratory health, critical care, and how the ATS is braced to help members face ongoing challenges.
Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package.
Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!
On this edition of the ATS Breathe Easy: The Latest, host Patti Tripathi and Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research President and CEO Mary McGowan discuss sarcoidosis research and the Champions for Change movement to encourage companies to allow employees to use paid time off to enroll in clinical trials. To learn more, go to ignorenomore.org.
Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package.
Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!
In our continuing series on What You May Have Missed at ATS 2025, Sunil Kapoor, MD, Medical College of Georgia, and host Erika Moseson, MD, MA, of the Air Health Our Heath podcast, discuss their takeaways from the "Strategies to Reduce Pulmonary and Critical Care Practice Emissions" networking event at ATS 2025. This includes how practices can reduce their carbon footprint and how better climate change policies can help patient outcomes.
Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package.
Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!
This week, in our series on What You May Have Missed at ATS 2025, host Eddie Qian, MD, of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, discusses post intensive care syndrome with Justin Banerdt, MD, MPH, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Banerdt presented his research on the subject, “Characterizing Critical Illness Recovery Trajectories: Exploring Risk Factors for Post Intensive Care Syndrome”, at ATS 2025 this past May.
Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package.
Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!
