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Conversations in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine by the American Thoracic Society
Speaker 4: [00:00:00] You're listening to the ATS Breathe Easy podcast, brought to you by the American Thoracic Society.
Erika: Welcome to the ATS Breathe Easy podcast here at ATS 2026. I'm your host, Dr. Erika Moseson, a pulmonary critical care medicine physician from Portland, Oregon, and past president of the Oregon Thoracic Society. I also host the Air Health, Our Health podcast. We are here today to talk about the importance of state chapters and their ability to advocate for our patients' health.
Why don't you introduce you or yourself- Yeah ... and, uh, tell us about your chapter.
Eddie: Thank you, Erica. Thank you for inviting me. Uh, I'm Eddie Kilb. I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, and I'm the current president of the South Carolina chapter of the American Thoracic Society. I'm also the chair of the Council of Chapter Representatives, which represents all the chapter societies, uh, nationally, and I'm really excited to be here today.
Erika: Great.
Dwight: [00:01:00] I'm Dwight Miller. I am from Tampa, Florida. I'm the immediate past president of the Florida Thoracic Society, which is one of the newest chapters of, uh, the American Thoracic Society, um, and excited to be here today.
Erika: Excellent. Well, why don't you tell us about your chapter and your chapter's history?
Eddie: Yeah. So the South Carolina Thoracic Society started in 2016, so we're about 10 years old. Um, and I've been involved, uh, since 2018, first as a kinda lower level board member and working my way up in our own chapter towards the presidency, and then I got involved nationally as we meet every year, um, on the board of all the chapters.
Um, we do... In our own, uh, uh, state, we do a lot of CME education for, um, all types of providers, uh, whether it's a faculty member at another acce- academic institution, whether it's a provider out in the community, whether it's an APP, whether it's a respiratory therapist, whether it's a nurse. You know, our job is to try to, [00:02:00] um, bring local, uh, products, uh, and, and kind of like keep our eye on the national landscape of what's going on.
Uh, and then in addition, we try to give opportunities for early career faculty, residents, and fellows in training. Um, and then one of the things we're here to talk about today, which is how can we get involved, um, in local advocacy, whether it's, uh, within our city, whether it's within our state, or whether it's lobbying to our national representatives from South Carolina.
So we have a lot of irons in the fire.
Erika: Absolutely. Mm-hmm. And why don't you tell us about Florida, our newest chapter?
Dwight: Yeah. So we are one of the n- uh, newer chapters of the American Thoracic Society. So we were launched towards the end of 2023, so we've now had, um, two meetings and, um, have been really excited to see really rapid growth.
So, um, we launched our first meeting in 2024 with, I think, between 30 and 50 participants in each of our sessions for, like, a Saturday, um, beautiful Saturday in Tampa. And then, [00:03:00] um, the very next year, we had, uh, more than 150 registered for our, uh, our CME conference, um, and have started looking at getting involved in advocacy in the state.
Um, and I think the more people that are involved and looking for ways to get involved, um, it's been a real great avenue, um, to sort of channel a lot of the energy locally. Mm-hmm.
Erika: And why do you guys think local chapters for the ATS are so important?
Eddie: Yeah, I, I think it's, it's multi, uh, variable, right? Like, for me as a early career educator, um, you know, about within the last eight to 10 years, and I guess maybe I'm mid-career now, um, it can be really hard to get involved on the national scale, landscape, not only at ATS, but other organizations, uh, as well.
And so it was a really good opportunity to, um, be involved in what would be considered a regional conference, um, through a larger organization, [00:04:00] get to be invited to speak, get to run poster sessions, judging, um, and collaborate, like, build your academic career. Um, it also allowed me to then go to the national meeting and meet other leaders from other states who also do education.
So from a career development standpoint, it was really invaluable as a way to get involved early, um, and kinda, like, start growing my career. From a community standpoint, you know, I'm very tied to my state. I've been in South Carolina now for 18 years through training and through, uh, being a faculty member, and I do also tele-ICU, so I see all these rural hospitals.
I see a lot of these, uh, needs in the community, and it's really hard for them to connect from their little area to the big national organization without some kind of intermediary because they're busy, you know, and they're taking care of people, and, you know, they're experiencing the lung health issues on the ground, which, as we know, is also not also national.
It can be [00:05:00] very regional. And so it's just a really good way to, like- Be a connector between the, the bigger ATS society and those, uh, in, in your own local kind of community.
Erika: Yeah. So what prompted you to start Florida?
Dwight: I think a lot of the same things that, um, Eddie was talking about. Um, you know, I l- I kind of think of the analogy of, like, why is a local newspaper important as opposed to a national newspaper?
Like, there are gonna be issues, um, and culture, um, and challenges in the local community that are not necessarily seen or represented well at the national level. Um, and so you really do need to have, uh... I think if you're interested in making an impact, then having, um, engagement at multiple levels of society is really important.
Um, and there are, I think, some real, you know, obviously, like the scale of a national organization or international organization like ATS is really incredible in terms of the number of patients that it can impact, but [00:06:00] when you're involved on the local level, there are, um, a lot more sort of direct impacts that you can have.
Um, s- and I think, um, a lot of benefits in terms of, um, building trust in the local community, for instance. So we know, um, that there is this sort of crisis in trust in, in authorities generally, um, but we also know that, um, trust in local authorities is a lot more, uh, is a lot higher than trust in national, sort of more distant figures.
Mm-hmm. Um, and so I think that if, um, organiza- like, professional organizations and, and respiratory professionals really wanna have a big impact, um, you know, the scale of national organizations and international organizations like ATS is really important, but also having that presence in a local community with people who are on the ground, um, and really engaged in the local community is gonna be important.
Um, and so, you know, I think also, um, providing opportunities for local respiratory health [00:07:00] providers, like for junior faculty members, um, is, is a real role that the local societies can play. Yeah.
Eddie: Yeah, I think building trust is really important 'cause you're right, it's, it's basically a a locally resourced thing that says, "I'm gonna look out for you."
Yeah. You know, we are, we are one, we are one community. Um, and you know, I'm in a state where we have a couple of other, you know, academic centers, but like you have across this big state of Florida, a number of large university centers, so you have a lot of collaborators, and even within your own regions, right?
Like it's- Yeah ... it's nice to like, uh, come together, uh, as one state and, and advocate together, you know? Um- Yeah ... and build your, build, build and grow. Mm-hmm.
Dwight: Right. And I think certainly one thing that we saw in Florida is that there are a lot of centers, um, but, but many of the sorts of centers where, for instance, just like the work requirements of having a job make it really difficult to attend all of the national conferences every year.
Um, but I really do think that conferences and, [00:08:00] and participation in society really teaches all of the people. Like I know that I've learned so much just by being involved in a local chapter. And so the more you're engaged in a local chapter, like it will make you better. Um, and it does provide a lot of opportunities for people at sites that don't, you know, have, may have a harder time making it to a national meeting, um, and, um, but still gives them that sort of engagement in, in the work in a sort of meta way.
Erika: And one of the things we were really excited to program this year for the Council of Chapter Representatives, um, is to have a focus on advocacy from our chapters here at the meeting. So what prompted that, um, focus from the Council of- ... Chapter Representatives- Yeah ... and what we can, what should we look forward to?
Eddie: I'll, I'll handle that question. Um, so I came in, uh, at this time last year into the, from the vice chair position into the chair position, and we really listened to what our constituents were looking for. And, um, what I'll say is we [00:09:00] have, uh, 17 chapters representing about 20 states. There are some combined chapters.
Um, and so when we meet every year, we try to set together what do we think is something we should focus on. And at the time last year, uh, there was a lot of, uh, concerns about funding for science and funding for research and vaccine health, and it just was all coming together around policy. And so we decided that we would focus this year on how can we locally do more, uh, involvement in policy, whether that is air health maybe in, in air quality in, in Oregon, and maybe it's something else in, in Florida.
But also, how can we then nationally with our partners in our health policy groups, like led by Gary Ewart, um, get with our states, our, our senators from our state. So, you know, I participated in Hill Day to advocate for funding for the NIH, funding for the CDC, funding for the EPA. [00:10:00] Um, and so we also with that thought, "How do we get more people involved?"
And so we submitted for a networking super center event that will be on coming up, uh, at ATS, so hopefully you've been able to join us for that. Um, and the goal is how do you take what you're seeing in your practice in your local area, the people that you're seeing, and apply that to policies that are up for debate, whether it's locally in your state or nationally, uh, in Washington.
So, uh, we're trying to work towards empowering the people, right, to be able to, um, take that next step and get involved. Mm-hmm
Erika: Yeah, and, uh, the name of the session is From Science to Storytelling. Mm-hmm. Um, 'cause I think a lot of us recognize that people connect more with, like, human stories. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. Um, are there, um... What, what kind of inspired that? Like, how do you see the chapters kind of disseminating those stories?
Eddie: Yes. Well, I think the ho- first thing is, if you're hearing this, you know, [00:11:00] and in time, you know, certainly come to the session. Um, otherwise, I would say reach out, reach out to us because I do think, um, a lot of people don't think they can do it or think they can advocate.
Right. And, you know, the goal of the session is to say it's, it's a little bit more simple than you think. Like, you're doing the work. You're doing the science if you're a researcher. You're doing the patient care if you're in the clinical, and you have stories to tell on behalf of your patients who are being affected by these policies.
And so our representatives need to hear that. And so, like, um, the, uh, the goal is just to encourage. So what can you do? Well, uh, even if you're not able to attend the session, you can get involved. You know, like I said, there are 20 states that have chapters, that have leadership, that have representatives, and there's 30 states in which we need chapters.
And so if you are unsure of who to get in contact with, contact us. We will help you understand what it takes to get s- a state chapter started and start doing the work. Mm-hmm. And I think Dwight in [00:12:00] Florida has been, um, a really great example of getting... just taking that next step, getting involved, and building it from there.
Mm-hmm.
Erika: Absolutely. Well, I wanna thank you both for your time and your service, uh, to your state chapters. Is there anything else you wanna add?
Dwight: Um, not necessarily, just I fully agree that it's really important to have these local state chapters. You can have a really big impact locally. Um, I love what you were saying about, you know, like, the focus of the session that we're gonna be doing, um, about the storytelling, 'cause I think the local level is really where- Yeah
um, you, you know, you have that direct contact with the patients. And, um, and there's so mu- the, the, the chapters are organized at the state level. Um, and so much policymaking is made at the state level, and so that is such an appropriate place for that, that advocacy to, to take place.
Eddie: Dean? Uh, I totally agree.
And, uh, I guess what I would say is if you're coming to this podcast through the lens of advocacy, take that [00:13:00] next step, you know. Uh, put yourself out there, reach out to somebody. Um, if you don't feel like you're skilled enough, reach out to us. Um, but if you're coming at it just from, uh, how do I get involved in ATS, the chapters are there for all these other levels, whether it's education, whether it's, um, uh, leadership, you know, whether it is building a community, whether it is, um, advocacy, you know, we, we want to be multifaceted.
And so, like, touch base with us, and we'll, we'll help you kind of get started. Yeah.
Erika: Absolutely. And just what you were saying about it being a doorway in, I just reflect on my own journey. So I was a trainee, a fellow, going to an Oregon Thoracic Society meeting, kind of got roped into helping with some state-level advocacy on tobacco and then on diesel, and then that led me to try to get more people interested, so I started a podcast called Air Health, Our Health.
And then eventually ATS was like, "Hey, come host a podcast for us." Yeah. So it's ... It really is. These chapters can [00:14:00] be a real gateway. Yeah. And so, um, well, thank you both very much for your time and your services to your state- Thank you ... and to the ATS. And everyone reach out to, uh, your local chapter.
Eddie: Mm-hmm.
Erika: Um, all right.
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Eddie: Thank you. Thank you, Evan. Appreciate it. Thank you, Erica.
Erika: All right. Thank you. And that was another, uh, ATS Breathe Easy podcast here from the ATS 2026 meeting.
Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us today. To learn more, visit our website at thoracic.org. Find more ATS Breathe Easy podcasts on Transistor, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
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