CHEST Annual Meeting welcomes back the pulmonology community

The CHEST Annual Meeting will be held Oct. 16 to 19 in Nashville, Tennessee, with a broad focus on bringing the pulmonology community back together in person.

Healio spoke with Subani Chandra, MD, FCCP, the scientific program committee chair for CHEST 2022 and associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, ahead of the meeting to highlight some specific topics of interest, sessions of importance and what attendees can expect from this year’s CHEST Annual Meeting.

‘Back in person after a 3-year gap’

The overarching theme of this year’s meeting is welcoming back members of the pulmonology community after a hiatus of in-person meetings as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re back in person after a 3-year gap and there is a lot of excitement,” Chandra told Healio. “The message is ‘welcome back,’ but also ‘welcome home.’ We are a community. We have shared many similar experiences though we have been far apart. We learn from each other and grow with each other. I have colleagues and friends ... who I’ve met and only meet during the annual meeting because they’re spread all over the world, and I haven't seen any of those people in person in 3 years.”

To welcome attendees back, CHEST will offer opportunities for personal wellness, such as in the Wellness Zone with free massages, and professional wellness, such as free headshots. During breaks, there will be live music in the convention hall and a mural for attendees to add a small addition of their own creativity to form one large work of art at the conclusion of the meeting, Chandra said.

There will also be a first-ever after-meeting event called “CHEST After Hours,” which will feature speakers sharing music, art stories and conversation in a speakeasy-type of event, Chandra said. Attendees can amplify their voice through opportunities for advocacy or connect in small groups to discuss relevant topics via “Conversation Starters.”

Wide variety of education

The CHEST 2022 agenda features more than 300 educational sessions covering the breadth of pulmonology, critical care and sleep medicine.

Attendees can expect sessions on topics including COVID-19 management and therapeutics; health disparities; lung cancer screening; women in pulmonology; sessions on controversies in asthma, critical care, pulmonary vascular disease and sleep medicine; and much more.

There will also be state-of-the-art hands-on simulation sessions; escape rooms and other CHEST games; “Meet the Professor” sessions with conversations on acute respiratory distress syndrome, lung transplant, sepsis and more; and problem-based learning sessions to refine attendees’ expertise on personalized therapy, lung cancer screening and other areas.

This year, the CHEST Foundation will have a session called “The First Five Minutes,” which will feature discussions on patient experiences and caring for diverse patient populations.

Chandra also highlighted the “Bridging Specialties: Timely Diagnosis in ILD Patients” session, which will focus on the impact of social, economic and various other factors on diagnosing interstitial lung diseases.

In addition, there will be talks on gender differences and access to care across pulmonology medicine.

“We have sessions on women’s health issues and talks on making sure we’re taking care of our diverse patient population and also how these issues affect us as providers,” Chandra said.

CHEST 2022 will also feature a “Women and Pulmonary” luncheon with a keynote address and sessions on how to evolve and grow as a physician, how to connect with other providers and patients, and how to stay connected for both seasoned physicians and new fellows.

“[CHEST will be] a place where attendees can get all the latest information, but also how that new information, data and findings can be applied to their patients,” Chandra said.

Chandra also highlighted opportunities for early-career and first-time in-person attendees, including a trainee lounge and sessions on topics such as building your career, understanding and figuring out various career paths, how to get the most out of a fellowship and tips on getting research published. The Training and Transitions Committee also created a trainee track to compile training-focused sessions throughout the meeting.

“There is an entire generation of fellows who are nearing completion of their fellowship training who have never been to an in-person CHEST meeting. Whether you are a first-time attendee or a seasoned attendee, there is a lot to experience,” Chandra said

The Healio team will be onsite in Nashville during CHEST 2022. Follow our coverage of the meeting here and on Twitter at @HealioPulm.

For more information:

Subani Chandra, MD, FCCP, can be reached at sc3328@cumc.columbia.edu.