Newswise — May 10, 2022 – The American Thoracic Society is pleased to announce this year’s winners of the ATS Fellowship in Health Equity and Diversity Award:  Aaron Baugh, MD, of the University of California San Francisco; and Jamuna Krishnan, MD, MBA, BS of Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Baugh was selected based on his project “The Consequence of Changing Racial Paradigms on Access to Cancer Surgery.” He will receive $50,000 to support his project for one year.

Dr. Krishnan will also receive $50,000 for one year to support her project “Optimizing Comorbid COPD and Cardiovascular Disease Management Among Socially Disadvantaged Patients.”

Both fellowship recipients will be appointed to the ATS Health Equity and Diversity Committee (HEDC).

“The ATS is proud to offer opportunities to fund research that will not only address gaps in clinical care, but will also support individuals from groups traditionally excluded from science,” said HEDC Chair Neeta Thakur, MD. “To move the needle on health equity, science must include contributions from diverse voices.”

“Drs. Baugh and Krishnan stood out among an excellent group of candidates this year,” noted HEDC Fellowship Review Committee Chair Juan Wisnivesky, MD, DrPH. “I look forward to working with them as we continue to accelerate efforts to address equity and diversity in the ATS.”

The ATS would like to extend heartfelt appreciation to AstaZeneca for funding Dr. Krishnan’s award.

“On behalf of AstraZeneca, we want to congratulate the winners of this year’s ATS Fellowship in Health Equity and Diversity Award,” said Liz Bodin, vice president of U.S. Respiratory & Immunology at AstraZeneca. “We are proud to be a strategic collaborator in this vital work to advance health equity and look forward to seeing the impact on patients in the respiratory community.”

For more information about the ATS Fellowship in Health Equity and Diversity, please contact Courtney White.

 

About the American Thoracic Society

Founded in 1905, the American Thoracic Society is the world's leading medical association dedicated to advancing pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. The Society’s more than 16,000 members prevent and fight respiratory disease around the globe through research, education, patient care and advocacy. The ATS publishes four journals, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, the Annals of the American Thoracic Society and ATS Scholar.