HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Leff, A. R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Leff, A. R.

The Virtual Symposium

Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society

In my introductory editorial as Editor of PATS, I indicated that a goal for this journal was the initiation of "virtual" symposia by the Society. Accordingly, I invited members and friends of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) to submit their ideas for symposia that defined a topic of broad interest to our readers. As such, the symposium would be virtual (i.e., no actual meeting would take place), but the format would provide a series of state-of-the-art papers in a well-defined area.

"The Compromised Host" is the first of a series of such symposia. It was created and expedited by Judd Shellito, who served also as the Guest Editor. This will be followed in 2 weeks by a second virtual symposium on "Clinical and Research Frontiers in Pulmonary Imaging," and by the Masters' symposium in early 2006, which will contain the three lectures given by the Nobel laureates, who presented their talks at our 100th Anniversary Meeting of the ATS, and a collection of lectures, largely drawn from our State of the Art (SOTA) course, that the attendees voted most outstanding. This symposium is funded in part by GlaxoSmithKline. The company was not made aware in advance of the contents, so this is an educational grant in the purest sense. These kinds of grants allow us to carry proceedings that only a small fraction of attendees would hear in an actual meeting of all of our 18,000 subscribers. These symposia also allow us to determine the educational agenda for the Society. This is in no way meant to discourage industry-sponsored symposia, but rather to ensure that topics not normally of interest to a single sponsor could be cosponsored in the spirit of the guidelines set by the American Medical Association and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association in support of the Society's educational mission. I will follow up on the details of these and other plans and the implementation of the complete mission of PATS in a subsequent editorial. However, the virtual symposium is intended to be a major feature of future activity.

I am particularly indebted to Judd Shellito for his personal efforts on this project at a time of incredible hardship. Judd's institution (Louisiana State University) was destroyed by the flood in New Orleans. Despite the incredible personal and professional disruption, Judd completed every editorial detail of the symposium, and consequently our inaugural issue will be published on time. This is a remarkable and selfless contribution at a most difficult time.

We look forward to your comments about this and the two virtual symposia that follow—and your suggestions to organize these symposia.

FOOTNOTES

Conflict of Interest Statement: A.R.L. is principal investigator for the University of Chicago GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Center of Excellence (received $590,000/year), and holds a smaller grant for basic research from GSK, Research Triangle Park ($75,000). Proceeds for this symposium were raised from Merck and Company and GSK, PTP. He participates ad hoc on several advisory boards. He is a sitting member of the Merck Pulmonary Advisory Board and is a retained consultant to Asthmatx, Inc.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Leff, A. R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Leff, A. R.