The American Thoracic Society (ATS) has announced that University of Vermont E.L. Amidon Professor and Chair of Medicine Polly Parsons, M.D., has been elected to be the ATS secretary-treasurer for the 2015-16 term. Parsons will then assume the role as ATS president for the 2018-19 term.
“I want to thank the members of the American Thoracic Society for choosing me to be a leader in ATS,” says Parsons, who has served as chair of medicine at UVM since 2006. “I am humbled by the confidence they have placed in me,” says Parsons. “I know this was a difficult choice as Dr. Gerry Criner is an outstanding physician leader, dedicated to the missions of ATS.”
A member of the ATS since 1989 and the recipient of the ATS’s 2013 Distinguished Achievement Award and 2006 Elizabeth A. Rich, M.D. Award, Parsons is currently a member of the Members in Transition and Training Committee and has previously been a member of the Nominating, Finance, Publications Policy, Clinicians Advisory, Membership, Assembly on Critical Care Planning, and Program and Budget committees. She was also a chairman of the Training Committee from 2005 to 2006 and currently serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
“The ATS is the recognized leader in academic pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine,” Parsons noted in her statement for candidacy. “My vision for the ATS is that it continues to be the leader through innovation and agility.”
In the statement, Parsons listed three goals for the ATS that she would work to implement after elected, including 1) to increase the support of research and career development by strengthening existing relationships; 2) to increase collaboration and communication to enhance synergy within the organization; and 3) to enhance revenue.
Parsons, who also serves as chair of medicine at the University of Vermont Medical Center, will be installed as secretary-treasurer in May at the ATS 2015 International Conference in Denver, Colo.
In addition to her involvement with the ATS, Parsons is a member of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Scientific Advisory Council. She also represented the ATS in the Multisociety Task Force for Critical Care Research and served as president of the Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors, chair of the Education Committee for the Association of the Professors of Medicine, and chair of the Multisociety Task Force on Competencies in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.
An expert in Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Parsons is board certified in critical care medicine, internal medicine, and pulmonary disease. Her research interests in acute lung injury and sepsis have led to more than 145 journal publications. Parsons earned her A.B. from Radcliffe College of Harvard University and her M.D. from the University of Arizona. She completed a residency in internal medicine and a pulmonary medicine fellowship at the University of Colorado where she joined the faculty in 1985, rising to full professor, before joining UVM in 2000 as director of pulmonary and critical care medicine, and chief of critical care services. Parsons is the co-author with Jeanine Wiener-Kronish, M.D., of Critical Care Secrets, 5th Edition. She is also the co-author of Pulmonary/Respiratory Therapy Secrets, 3rd Edition.
Founded in 1905, the American Thoracic Society is an international society with more than 15,000 members. The ATS is the world’s leading medical association dedicated to advancing our clinical and scientific understanding of pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders.
(This article was adapted from an April 1, 2015 ATS News announcement produced by the American Thoracic Society.)