

ATS Breathe Easy
American Thoracic Society
Conversations in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine by the American Thoracic Society
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 26, 2025 • 31min
ATS Breathe Easy - Biologics: A Breakthrough Treatment for Asthma
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two! Amy Attaway, MD, hosts the latest ATS Breathe Easy episode with former ATS President Monica Kraft, MD, and Asthma and Allergy Network's Chief Research Officer, De De Gardner, DrPH, discuss the benefits and challenges of biologics for asthma. What factors guide selection of a specific biologic for asthma? When should a patient transition from one biologic to another? This episode of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast is supported in part by AstraZeneca.

Aug 19, 2025 • 30min
ATS Breathe Easy - EPA Rollbacks Spell Grave Impacts for Public Health
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two! Rolling back major EPA policies that protect our health from air pollution exposure is dangerous and even fatal in some cases. This episode features the chair and vice-chair of the ATS Environmental Health Policy Committee, Alison Lee, MD, (Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai) and Gillian Goobie, MD, PhD (University of British Columbia). Patti Tripathi hosts. Resources: The Southern California Children’s Health StudyThe Ella Roberta FoundationSilent Spring by Rachel Carson

Aug 12, 2025 • 36min
ATS Breathe Easy - Environmental Justice & the Climate Challenge
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two! Erika Moseson, MD, of the Air Health Our Heath podcast hosts this week's episode with guest Daniel Croft, MPH, ATSF. Dr. Croft is associate professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. On this episode we share insights from the Climate Change and Respiratory Health: Opportunities to Contribute to Environmental Justice: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. For additional discussion on environmental health, please also view our recent Breathe Easy episode 12 “EPA Rollbacks Spell Grave Impacts on Public Health” for an up-to-date discussion of current national changes related to health care, environmental health and environmental justice.

Aug 5, 2025 • 13min
ATS Breathe Easy - Vaccine Hesitancy and the Fear of a Measles Outbreak
We're taking a breather this August as we work on bringing you more great episodes of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast. But we're not going off the air - instead, we're bringing back some of our best episodes of the last season. See you in September for season two! On this episode of ATS Breathe Easy, host Patti Tripathi welcomes two leading experts to discuss the critical role of vaccines in protecting children and high-risk populations. Paul Offit, MD, renowned scientist and vaccine advocate, and Tina Hartert, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Asthma Research, provide an in-depth look at vaccine policies, hesitancy, and the consequences of declining immunization rates.

11 snips
Jul 29, 2025 • 37min
PH Insights - Help Us Breathe: PH Patients Advocate for Oxygen Reform
The second part of our ATS Breathe Easy series on the SOAR Act, in collaboration with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA). This episode was first posted on PHA's PH Insights podcast.Host Jaeger Spratt, MSW, highlights the voices of long-time pulmonary hypertension patient advocates Amy Burant and Colleen Connor, who share their experiences with oxygen access and how those challenges have shaped their journeys with this illness and using supplemental oxygen. They also discuss their advocacy work and call on all members of lung disease communities, especially health care professionals, to advocate for the SOAR Act and help lung disease patients breathe easier.

Jul 22, 2025 • 26min
ATS Breathe Easy - How the SOAR Act Can Keep Patients' Oxygen Flowing, Part 1
The Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform Act (SOAR Act) is a piece of pending legislation establishes certain requirements with respect to the payment and provision of supplemental oxygen and related services under Medicare. But how would this legislation affect patients, and how is the ATS Nursing Assembly leading the charge in advocating for their needs? Host Patti Tripathi explores this question, and more, with Susan Jacobs, RN, MS, research nurse manager at Stanford University; and Jaeger Spratt, MSW, advocacy and treatment access program manager at the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. This episode is the first in a two-part series collaboration with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association podcast, PH Insights. The Pulmonary Hypertension Association Advocacy Action Center: https://phassociation.org/advocate/ Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlights Package. Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!

Jul 15, 2025 • 37min
ATS Breathe Easy - The Human Cost of the NIH Cuts
At the 2025 ATS International Conference, Joshua Fessel, MD, PhD, ATSF, formerly of the NIH, and Shade Afolabi, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist practicing in Texas, sat down to discuss the extensive ramifications the cuts to the NIH caused researchers, clinicians, and patients. With host Erika Moseson, MD, MA, they explore the effects of losing funding on critical research projects, how patient families have been dealing with pauses on disease research, and how the field can help retain and support early career professionals affected by these policy decisions. Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package. Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!

Jul 8, 2025 • 25min
ATS Breathe Easy - Pioneering Change with ATS President Raed Dweik, MD, MBA, ATSF
On this episode of the ATS Breathe Easy podcast, meet the newly-elected ATS President, Raed Dweik, MD, MBA, ATSF. Host Amy Attaway, MD, MS, talks with Dr. Dweik on his vision for the ATS, and what he is most excited for in the fields of respiratory health, critical care, and how the ATS is braced to help members face ongoing challenges. Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package. Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!

Jul 1, 2025 • 22min
ATS Breathe Easy: The Latest - Sarcoidosis & Job Protection for Research Participants
On this edition of the ATS Breathe Easy: The Latest, host Patti Tripathi and Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research President and CEO Mary McGowan discuss sarcoidosis research and the Champions for Change movement to encourage companies to allow employees to use paid time off to enroll in clinical trials. To learn more, go to ignorenomore.org. Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package. Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!

Jun 24, 2025 • 13min
ATS Breathe Easy - Reducing Emissions in Health Care
In our continuing series on What You May Have Missed at ATS 2025, Sunil Kapoor, MD, Medical College of Georgia, and host Erika Moseson, MD, MA, of the Air Health Our Heath podcast, discuss their takeaways from the "Strategies to Reduce Pulmonary and Critical Care Practice Emissions" networking event at ATS 2025. This includes how practices can reduce their carbon footprint and how better climate change policies can help patient outcomes. Did you miss the ATS 2025 International Conference? Or were you unable to attend some key sessions? Go to conference.thoracic.org/program/conference-highlights/ to purchase your ATS Conference Highlight Package.Be sure to check out the Out of the Blue podcast from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which takes you out of the pages of the Blue Journal and into the minds of the most brilliant researchers in the fields of respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts!