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Bringing ATS to the World

The American Thoracic Society takes great pride in its tagline “We help the world breathe.” As a global society with thousands of international members, we understand the important role we play in helping to bring the latest in translational research and clinical care to  those impacted by respiratory diseases, critical care injuries and illnesses, and sleep related disorders.

One of our major annual activities is our International Conference. While we hope you will be joining us, we recognize that not everyone will be able to attend. That’s why, this year, the ATS is expanding the number of initiatives that make the conference available globally. Consider the following:

Live Streaming at ATS 2018

ATS will once again live stream sessions from the International Conference, making this content available to sister societies throughout the world. In total, 60 sessions will be available in the following categories:

  • Opening Ceremony
  • Plenary Session
  • Keynote Series – 8 sessions
  • Clinical Year in Review – 4 sessions
  • Clinical Topics in Pulmonary Medicine – 15 sessions
  • Critical Care Track – 8 sessions
  • Scientific Symposia – 18 sessions
  • Core Curricula – 5 sessions

South American Conference on Critical Care

Despite the many medical schools in Latin America, only a few offer specialties in critical care medicine.  Similarly, there are few professional or scientific societies, national or cross-national, devoted primarily or exclusively to research about clinical practice in critical care. 

Therefore, the American Thoracic Society is very pleased to partner with the Brazilian Thoracic Society (BTS) and the Asociación Latinoamericana del Tórax (ALAT) to initiate a series of conferences dedicated to advancing clinical knowledge of critical care issues in Latin America.  The first such conference was held in São Paulo, Brazil last July and focused on acute respiratory failure and mechanical ventilation. The second conference, to be held this September, also in São Paulo, focuses on “Treatment of the Acutely Decompensating Patient: Best Practices for Mechanical Ventilation.”

MECOR 2.0

For more than 20 years, the ATS has been working to build research capacity in low and middle income countries through its Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical, and Operations Research (MECOR) program. This intensive course for physicians and related health care professionals increases capacity and leadership in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine research. Since 1994, the scope of the ATS MECOR program has grown tremendously. Today, its footprint is truly global, with more than 1,800 graduates from its courses. 

In 2017, the ATS undertook a comprehensive, ground-up redesign of the curriculum, course organization, and mentorship offerings. The updated course helps ensure delivery of best-in-class programming. MECOR 2.0 launched in January 2018 in Indonesia.

The 2018 ATS MECOR schedule includes six programs:

MECOR India
January 15-20, 2018
Bengaluru, India

MECOR Indonesia
January 22-26, 2018
Jakarta, Indonesia

MECOR Vietnam
March 11-17, 2018
Hanoi, Vietnam

MECOR China
April 11-15, 2018
Beijing, China

PATS MECOR
April 16-20, 2018
Durban, South Africa

MECOR Turkey
Fall 2018
TBD, Turkey

These are just some of the ATS initiatives that help expand the worldwide knowledge of respiratory, critical care and sleep related medicine. Learn more.