American Thoracic Society

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) is a nonprofit organization focused on improving care for pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders. It was established in 1905 as the

American Thoracic Society

Formation	1905
Headquarters	New York, New York
Membership	16000+
President	M. Patricia Rivera, MD, ATSF
Website	https://www.thoracic.org
Formerly called	American Sanatorium Association 1905-1938; American Trudeau Society 1938-1960

American Sanatorium Association, and changed its name in 1938 to the American Trudeau Society. In 1960, it changed its name again to the American Thoracic Society. Originally the medical section of the American Lung Association, the Society became independently incorporated in 2000 as a 501 (c) (3) organization.

Medical and scientific areas of interest

Pulmonology, critical care, sleep medicine, infectious disease, pediatrics, allergy/immunology, thoracic surgery, behavioral science, environmental and occupational medicine, physiology, molecular biology, among others.^[1]

Membership

More than 15,000 physicians, research scientists, and nurses and other allied healthcare professionals (32 percent of whom work outside the United States).^[2]

ATS Assemblies

The interests of members are represented by the Society's 14 specialty-specific assemblies and 2 sections.^[3]

Chapters and activities

With the overarching goal of advancing the Society's mission, each chapter represents a state or other geographical area and includes, in its membership ATS members.^[4] The ATS also works to engage its members around the globe.

Past Presidents

No.[5]	Name	Term
1	William B. Tucker, MD	1960-1961
2	Robert H. Ebert, MD	1961-1962
3	H. William Harris, MD	1962-1963
4	William R. Barclay, MD	1963-1964
5	William S. Schwartz, MD	1964-1965
6	Winthrop N. Davey, MD	1965-1966
7	John S. Chapman, MD	1966-1967
8	Robert L. Yeager, MD	1967-1968
9	Joseph B. Stocklen, MD	1968-1969
10	James F. Hammarsten, MD	1969-1970
11	Eugene D. Robin, MD	1970-1971
14	James Kieran, MD	1971-1972
15	Alan K. Pierce, MD	1972-1973
16	Jay A. Nadel, MD	1973-1974
17	Gareth M. Green, MD	1974-1975
18	Attilio D. Renzetti, Jr., MD	1975-1976
19	Hans Weill, MD	1976-1977
20	Richard L. Riley, MD	1977-1978
21	Donald F. Tierney, MD	1978-1979
22	Marvin A. Sackner, MD	1979-1980
23	Anne L. Davis, MD	1980-1981
24	John F. Murray, MD	1981-1982
25	Robert B. Mellins, MD	1982-1983
26	Roland H. Ingram, Jr., MD	1983-1984
27	Clarence A. Guenter, MD	1984-1985
28	Kenneth M. Moser, MD	1985-1986
29	Gordon L. Snider, MD	1986-1987
30	Gerard M. Turino, MD	1987-1988
31	Joseph H. Bates, MD	1988-1989
32	Kenneth L. Brigham, MD	1989-1990
33	A. Sonia Buist, MD	1990-1991
34	Herbert Y. Reynolds, MD	1991-1992
35	James D. Crapo, MD	1992-1993
36	J.T. Sylvester, MD	1993-1994
37	Gary W. Hunninghake, MD	1994-1995
38	Leonard D. Hudson, MD	1995-1996
39	Philip C. Hopewell, MD	1996-1997
40	Talmadge E. King, Jr., MD	1997-1998
41	Edward R. Block, MD	1998-1999
42	Jeffrey L. Glassroth, MD	1999-2000
43	William J. Martin, II, MD	2000-2001
44	Adam Wanner, MD, ATSF	2001-2002
45	Thomas R. Martin, MD	2002-2003
46	Homer A. Boushey, Jr., MD	2003-2004
47	Sharon I.S. Rounds, MD, ATSF	2004-2005
48	Peter D. Wagner, MD	2005-2006
49	John E. Heffner, MD	2006-2007
50	David H. Ingbar, MD, ATSF	2007-2008
51	Jo Rae Wright, PhD	2008-2009
52	J. Randall Curtis, MD, MPH	2009-2010
53	Dean E. Schraufnagel, MD, ATSF	2010-2011
54	Nicholas S. Hill, MD	2011-2012
55	Monica Kraft, MD, ATSF	2012-2013
56	Patricia W. Finn	2013-2014
57	Thomas W. Ferkol, MD, ATSF	2014-2015
58	Atul Malhotra, MD, ATSF	2015-2016
59	David Gozal, MD, MBA, ATSF	2016-2017
60	Marc Moss, MD, ATSF	2017-2018
61	Polly Parsons, MD, ATSF	2018-2019
62	James Beck, MD, ATSF	2019-2020
63	Juan C. Celedón, MD, DrPH, ATSF	2020-2021
64	Lynn Schnapp, MD, ATSF	2021-2022
65	Greg Downey, MD, ATSF	2022-2023
66	M. Patricia Rivera, MD, ATSF	2023-2024

Publications and educational activities

4 peer-reviewed journals:

• American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology
• Annals of the American Thoracic Society
• ATS Scholar

The Society offers continuing medical education credits and nursing contact hours through its annual international conference.

The ATS advocates for improved respiratory health for patients in the United States and around the globe. The Society is actively involved securing funds for basic and clinical research, establishing global tuberculosis and tobacco control policies, enforcing the Clean Air Act, and lobbying for fair reimbursement for physician services under Medicare and other insurers.^[6]

The ATS Patient Information Series is available electronically on the ATS website.

See also

• American Lung Association
• Edward Livingston Trudeau