The State of Pulmonary and Critical Care in the Southwest

Sunday afternoon at the American Thoracic Society International Conference has two sessions we usually attend – the Great Cases Conference and the Awards Session. These are fun sessions. The Great Cases Conference is a chance to test your diagnostic acumen against master clinicians. The awards session is when leaders in pulmonary, critical care and sleep are acknowledged for their accomplishments and/or public service.

The Great Cases Conference was co-chaired by Dona Upson from New Mexico. The master clinicians included Marvin Schwarz from Colorado, Tom Colby from Arizona, and John Newell, who until recently was from Colorado. Sharon Rounds from Brown was another of the master clinicians and did her pulmonary/critical care training in Colorado.

The awards session was chaired by Monica Kraft, who was a pulmonary fellow and later faculty member at the University of Colorado and National Jewish Health (NJH). Jonathan Samet, a former resident, faculty member and division chief at the University of New Mexico, was presented the Edward Livingston Trudeau Medal. The Amberson Lecturer was David Schwartz from the University of Colorado. Polly Parsons, a graduate of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, who did her residency and pulmonary fellowship at Colorado, and later was a faculty member at Colorado, was presented the ATS distinguished service award. Allen Thomas was a resident and pulmonary fellow in Phoenix and practices at the Phoenix VA, and was presented the ATS Clinician of the Year. Abderrahmane E. Amine Temmar from Albuquerque was one of the other two finalists for clinician of the year. Kay Kreiss, the recipient of the Public Health Service award, was on faculty at NJH /University of Colorado for more than 14 years.  Paul Noble, a former University of Colorado fellow, was presented with a recognition award for scientific accomplishments. Although not presented until the Women’s Forum on Monday, the list is not complete without acknowledging the Elizabeth A. Rich, MD Award to Suzanne Lareau of the University of Colorado, having moved there from the Albuquerque VA.

Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado’s 13.9 million residents represent only 4.4% of the United States’ 313.9 million inhabitants. Why so many good physicians, and other clinicians, trained or reside in the Southwest is unclear. Perhaps it was pioneers in the field such as Tom Petty in Denver, Benjamin Burrows in Tucson and William and Randy Lovelace in Albuquerque who inspired so many young physicians. Regardless, the Southwest seems to be overly blessed with great pulmonary, critical care and sleep physicians. We at the Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care wish to recognize their accomplishments and note that the state of pulmonary, critical care and sleep in the Southwest appears very good indeed.

Richard A. Robbins, M.D.

Dona J. Upson, M.D.

Carolyn H. Welsh, M.D.

Reference as: Robbins RA, Upson DJ, Welsh CH. The state of pulmonary and critical care in the Southwest. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2013;6(5): 246. PDF