ATS Leadership

David H. Ingbar, M.D., became President of the Society, succeeding John E. Heffner, M.D. Dr. Ingbar is Director of the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Division at the University of Minnesota, where he also serves as Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Pediatrics.

Dr. Ingbar earned his medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School in 1978 and trained at the University of Washington and Yale University. He has subsequently held faculty appointments at Yale University and the University of Minnesota.

His clinical expertise is in the care of ICU patients and of acute respiratory failure, specifically acute respiratory distress syndrome. He conducts research on lung injury and repair, with a particular focus on clearance of pulmonary edema fluid from the lungs. He also directs a National Institutes of Health Training Grant.
 
Since joining the ATS in 1981, Dr. Ingbar has chaired the Audit and Finance Committee, Program and Budget Committee, Training Committee and the Planning Committee of the Assembly on Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology (RCMB). In addition, he has been a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, Web Editorial Board, Education Committee, Membership Committee, Sleep Task Force, Government Relations Committee, Nominating Committee and the Program Committees of the Assemblies on RCMB, Respiratory Structure and Function and Critical Care.

Dr. Ingbar is a Past President of the Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors and a former member of both the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology and the American Board of Internal Medicine's Pulmonary Subspecialty Board. He has been named one of the Best Doctors in America for a number of consecutive years.

Jo Rae Wright, Ph.D., was installed as President-Elect. She will serve as ATS President from 2008 to 2009. Dr. Wright is Professor of Cell Biology, Medicine and Pediatrics and Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at Duke University. Her research focuses on inflammatory and infectious lung disease at the cellular and molecular level. She serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and as an ad hoc member of the Lung Biology and Pathology Study Section at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Dr. Wright currently chairs the Program and Budget Committee and is a member of the Strategic Planning Committee and the Program Review Subcommittee. She has chaired the ATS International Conference Committee, Membership Committee, Scientific Advisory Committee, and the Assembly on RCMB. She has also been a member of the 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 Vice President. 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 attending physician at Harborview Medical Center. He 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 (BSA) and served on the Communications and Marketing Committee, Awards Committee, Clinicians Task Force, Healthcare Policy Committee, Corporate Relations Committee and Program and Budget Committee. He is currently a member of the Audit and Finance Committee, Membership Committee and the Assembly on BSA’s Planning Committee.

Dean E. Schraufnagel, M.D., was elected by the ATS membership as Secretary-Treasurer and 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 (UIC). 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 on the Society’s Board of Directors and Council of Chapter Representatives. He has also been a member of a number of ATS committees, including the Program Review Subcommittee, Task Force on Clinicians, and Communications and Marketing, Revenue Development, Nominating, Information Systems, and Publications Policy Committees. He is currently Editor of the ATS Web site.

ATS Immediate Past-President John E. Heffner, M.D., serves as William M. Garnjobst Chair of Medical Education at Providence Portland Medical Center and the Oregon Clinic. His research interests include patient safety and quality improvement, pleural disease, airway control and end-of-life care. A member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Executive Committee, Dr. Heffner has written more than 360 articles, chapters, reviews and editorials on respiratory and critical care medicine and has co-authored 19 books.