National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Division of Lung Disease, Airway Biology and Disease Branch Awarded Inaugural John W. Walsh Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 3, 2017 - The COPD Foundation announced that four members of the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Division of Lung Disease, Airway Biology and Disease Branch were awarded the "2017 John W. Walsh Award for Advocacy on Behalf of COPD" at its COPD10usa conference in Chicago, IL on Saturday, July 26. This inaugural award was given on behalf of the COPD Conferences (UK and USA) that are committed to recognizing individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the field of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Inductees are admitted to the COPD Hall of Fame.
The awardees are:
- Thomas Croxton, Ph.D., M.D.
- James Kiley, Ph.D.
- Antonello Punturieri, M.D., Ph.D.
- Lisa Postow, Ph.D.
The leaders were commended for their consistent advocacy over many years that advanced the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of COPD including support of COPD patients, their families and communities.
“We are grateful to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Division of Lung Disease, Airway Biology and Disease Branch for its efforts in affirming the critical importance of the partnership between the scientific, clinical, and patient community,” said Byron Thomashow, M.D., Chairman of the Board of the COPD Foundation. “We congratulate the awardees on the recent success in launching the first-ever National COPD Action Plan which will serve as a vital roadmap of national priorities in which to tackle COPD, and we look forward to working in partnership to move this plan forward.”
The award was named in memory of John W. Walsh, patient advocate and pioneer who founded the COPD Foundation in 2004. Mr. Walsh passed away in March of 2017.
ABOUT COPD10usa: The biennial conference is designed to foster communication and interaction between healthcare provider and patient stakeholders. The conference consists of large group plenary sessions and three distinct break-out tracks with smaller group sessions in the areas of clinical, research and care delivery. Additional young-investigator sessions and inter-professional networking hours are held along with a poster session to showcase investigator submitted original and non-original research and clinical improvement projects. Multiple learning methods are utilized in the various sessions including; case study presentations and round table discussions, facilitated panel discussions, lecture, original research presentations with senior investigator review panel and more.