A bustling crowd of physicians, experts, and newly-inducted fellows gathered on October 6th at the 90th annual conference of the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) in Boston, MA.

Today, CHEST continues to lead the way in advancing patient outcomes through innovative chest medicine education, clinical research, and team-based care. With abundant sessions devoted to everything from artificial intelligence and sleep disorders to COPD advances and biologics for managing severe asthma, CHEST is bringing the big issues to the fore.

The opening session kicked off with a warm welcome from  2024 CHEST Scientific Program Coordinator Gabriel Bosslet, MD, FCCP, followed by words from CHEST President John (Jack) D. Buckley, MD, MPH, FCCP.  The room also congratulated the new CHEST Fellows and witnessed a particularly emotional awards ceremony.

Here are a few key takeaways from the opening session: 

CHEST's legacy and impact reflect physicians' achievements

The annual CHEST convention offers a key opportunity for education, networking, and career growth—and this year, Dr. Bosslet says, has seen the largest in-person CHEST meeting of all time. Its reach goes beyond the United States. CHEST is also a global leader in clinical education, Dr. Bosslet says. CHEST offers, “a great networking opportunity so many of us value both early in our careers, and later,” Dr. Buckley added.

Members of CHEST are also involved in important initiatives. Some examples? Maxine Dexter, MD, is running for Congress, Bosslet notes. “She’s the first pulmonary critical care MD to serve in Congress,” he says. He also cited ICU physician Erika Moseson, MD, host of the Air Health Our Health podcast.

Celebration of the Black Angels

This year, the award ceremony also issued an honorary fellowship induction to “the extraordinary nurses referred to by their patients as the Black Angels,” says Dr. Buckley, who awarded the honorary award to Virginia Allen, DHL, LPN, one of the last surviving nurses from the Black Angels. 

Allen worked at Sea View Hospital in New York from 1947-1957, when the cure for tuberculosis was discovered. The Black Nurses “cared for highly contagious TB patients at a time when no one else would,” Dr. Buckley says. 

Allen told the crowd that she was proud to have been part of the discovery of the cure. Without the nurses at the helm, she says it would have never happened. 

Climate change's impacts on health are devastating and front of mind in 2024

Because of “rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and air pollution, we are seeing a real impact at the bedside,” Dr. Buckley said as he introduced Dr. Kerry.

Dr. Kerry began by discussing the Paris Agreement’s "1.5 Celsius” goal, in which countries hope to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels—at which severe impacts occur. The issue? “We’re already seeing more days above 1.5 than not,” Dr. Kerry says.

By 2050, she says, there will be 14.5 million deaths due to issues directly related to climate change, including malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress. More so, she says there is more than a 50% chance of another COVID-like pandemic—exacerbated by climate change. Climate change is worsening all disease burdens, she says, including respiratory and pulmonary health, as well as just about every other health system—especially for communities of color and those living in the poorest areas.

Climate is the largest modifiable environmental risk to public health, globally—and clinicians play a key role in mitigating its effects. “We have a moral, professional, and public health imperative” to play a role in prevention, delivery, and policy, Dr. Kelly says.

Healthcare workers can make changes by educating themselves, educating patients, and optimizing care pathways, including embracing telemedicine where appropriate and prescribing dry powder inhalers when possible. Why? Metered-dose inhalers contribute to climate issues by releasing potent hydrocarbon gasses. These inhalers, she stresses, make up 75-90% of the American market.