President's Message

At our ATS Board of Directors meeting in March, Marc Moss, MD, chair of the ATS International Conference Committee, presented an update of this year’s program. I thought I would share some numbers with you:

Dean E. Schraufnagel, MD
ATS President

2 – Second most abstracts (5,440) submitted in the history of the ATS meeting, despite increased rejection rates
5 – Total number of “hands-on” sessions at which attendees will learn by doing.
8 – To date, the total number of events scheduled to take place at the two free reunion lounges that will be available for in-person social and business get-togethers at the convention center.
8 – Workshops, including one on endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS).
23 – Sessions sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies. Programs will include question and answer sessions and tips on securing grant funding.
27 – Master clinicians who will serve as facilitators for clinical posters.
30 – Postgraduate courses, including one on ultrasound.
40 – Quality improvement poster presentations with expert facilitators.
50 – Sunrise seminars on an array of topics.
55 – Meet the professor seminars on an array of topics.
57 – Mini-symposia.
75 – Poster discussion sessions.
91 – Major symposia, including programs that will focus on important studies such as the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial and international health and leadership.
143 – Thematic poster sessions, including those that will report clinical trials results.
1,251 – Individual presentations.

For me, this list represents only a few reasons why the ATS International Conference is number one.

See you in Denver.