U of M Professor David Ingbar Completes Term as American Throacic Society President

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (July 9, 2008) — University of Minnesota Medical School professor, David Ingbar, M.D., completed his term as American Thoracic Society (ATS) president at the 2008 International ATS Conference in Toronto. The ATS is a leading international society that promotes research, training, and clinical care for lung, critical care, and sleep disorders.

Ingbar delivered his presidential address at the ATS International Conference highlighting the society’s accomplishments throughout the past year. “The increasing collaboration between interdisciplinary professionals and experts from around the world, in addition to key communications and interactions directly with patients and their advocacy groups, is critical for advancing our understanding and treatment of lung disease, critical care, and sleep medicine,” he said.

Ingbar is professor of medicine, physiology, and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School and serves as director of the Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Division. He is also the executive director of the Center for Lung Science and Health, a center dedicated to interdisciplinary research, education, and public outreach activities that promote lung health and improve care for patients with lung disease.

A nationally renowned expert in critical care medicine, Ingbar graduated from Harvard Medical School, completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Washington, and his pulmonary medicine and critical care fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. As an academic principal investigator at the University, Ingbar focuses on research involving the repair of injured lung tissue. “We need to move forward and work together to form effective partnerships and alliances across many boundaries and sectors to optimally improve lung health in Minnesota, the United States, and around the globe,” he said.

The ATS is an 18,000 member professional organization that promotes research, training, and clinical care for lung, critical care, and sleep disorders. Although the ATS originated as a professional society comprised of physicians and researchers from the U.S., it has evolved in many ways to become a leading international society of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Nearly half of ATS membership is now comprised of physicians and researchers from countries beyond the U.S. borders. The society membership also now includes allied health professionals and others interested in helping the world breathe.

The Center for Lung Science and Health (CLSH) is an interdisciplinary center within the University of Minnesota Medical School which facilitates interdisciplinary research, education and outreach in order to promote lung health and improve care of patients with lung disease. For more information about the Center for Lung Science and Health or the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, call 1-800-646-9255 or visit www.lung.umn.edu or www.med.umn.edu/pacc