ATS Leadership

Jo Rae Wright, Ph.D., vice provost, dean of the Graduate School and professor of Cell Biology, Medicine and Pediatrics at Duke University, became president of the Society, succeeding David H. Ingbar, M.D. Dr. Wright earned her doctorate in physiology from West Virginia University in 1981 and trained at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, where she held appointments prior to joining the faculty at Duke University in 1993.

During her 15-year tenure at Duke, Dr. Wright has served in various positions, including head of both the Division of Physiology in the Department of Cell Biology, associate dean for Graduate Programs and vice dean of Basic Sciences. She assumed her current responsibilities in 2006.

Dr. Wright’s research focuses on inflammatory and infectious lung disease at the cellular and molecular level, with a particular focus on the role of surfactant in innate and adaptive immunity. She serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and was a member of the Lung Biology and Pathology Study Section at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. She is currently studying lung function, immunity and defense with funding from the National Institutes of Health and the NHLBI.

Dr. Wright currently chairs the ATS Audit and Finance Committee and is a member of the Program and Budget Committee, Strategic Planning Committee and Web Editorial Board. She has chaired the ATS International Conference Committee, Membership Committee, Scientific Advisory Committee and the Assembly on Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. She has also been a member of the Program Review Subcommittee, Research Advocacy Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Task Force for U.S.-Based Clinicians and the “2020 Group” of the ATS strategic planning process.

J. Randall Curtis, M.D., M.P.H., was installed as president-elect. He will serve as ATS president from 2009 to 2010. Dr. Curtis is professor of medicine at the University of Washington in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care and head of the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care at Harborview Medical Center. He directs the Harborview/University of Washington End-of-Life Care Research Program and conducts clinical research focused on assessing and improving end-of-life and palliative care in the ICU and for patients with chronic lung disease.

He has chaired the ATS International Conference Committee and the Assembly on Behavioral Science and served on the Audit and Finance Committee, Communications and Marketing Committee, Membership Committee, Awards Committee, Clinicians Task Force, Healthcare Policy Committee and Corporate Relations Committee. He is currently chairs the Program and Budget Committee and is a member of the Strategic Planning Committee and ATS Workforce Congressional Action Team. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Foundation of the American Thoracic Society.

Dean E. Schraufnagel, M.D., was installed as vice president of the Society. He will serve as ATS president from 2010 to 2011. He is professor of medicine and pathology and program director in the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as attending physician at the UIC and VA Medical Centers and the Chicago Tuberculosis Clinics. His research interests include pulmonary microcirculation, mycobacterial disease, scleroderma lung disease, sickle cell lung disease and pulmonary hypertension.

Dr. Schraufnagel has served as editor of the ATS Web site, chair of the Web Editorial Board and as a member of the Council of Chapter Representatives, the Task Force on Clinicians and the Communications and Marketing Committee, Revenue Development Committee and Nominating Committee. He is currently a member of the Audit and Finance Committee, Information Systems Committee, Membership Committee, Program and Budget Committee and Publications Policy Committee.

Nicholas S. Hill, M.D., was elected by the ATS membership as secretary-treasurer and will serve as ATS president from 2011 to 2012. Dr. Hill is professor of medicine at Tufts University, adjunct professor of medicine at Brown Medical School and chief of the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Division at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. An active clinician, he directs the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at Tufts Medical Center, as well as the Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at New England Sinai Rehabilitation Center. His research interests include pulmonary vascular biology, clinical pulmonary hypertension and non-invasive ventilation.

Dr. Hill is a member of the Strategic Planning Committee and the Assembly on Critical Care’s Planning and Program Committees. He has served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, chaired the Program Committees of the Assemblies on Pulmonary Circulation and Critical Care and served on the Research Review and Coordinating Committees and the Council of Chapter Representatives.

ATS immediate-past president David H. Ingbar, M.D., directs the Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Division at the University of Minnesota, where he also serves as professor of medicine, physiology and pediatrics. His clinical expertise is in the care of ICU patients and of acute respiratory failure, specifically ARDS. He conducts research on lung injury and repair, with a particular focus on clearance of pulmonary edema fluid from the lungs. Dr. Ingbar is a past president of the Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors. He has also served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology and the American Board of Internal Medicine's Pulmonary Subspecialty Board.