Q&A With Matty Triplette, MD, MPH

LGBTQ+ at CHEST Interest Group Steering Committee
CHEST member since 2020

March 24, 2025

Where do you work, and what is your current position?
Associate Professor, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the University of Washington.

What are your clinical and/or research interests?
My clinical interests are in the prevention and early detection of lung cancer. I lead lung cancer screening and tobacco cessation programs at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. My research interests are similar, but I focus on cocreating and evaluating interventions to support lung cancer prevention in high-risk and underserved communities.

What led you to join your Interest Group and become a Steering Committee member?
If history teaches us anything, it's that LGBTQ+ folx have survived and thrived thanks to community. This Interest Group allows us to be in community with each other to ensure support for our colleagues, trainees, and patients who identify as LGBTQ+ and/or are our allies.

What have you gained being involved in this Interest Group?
It's been really great to get to know other members of CHEST outside of my research niche and to learn about all the amazing ways they advance pulmonary and critical care medicine as well as LGBTQ+ health.

How has being in an Interest Group benefited your experience as a CHEST member?
The LGBTQ+ at CHEST Interest Group is a great "home base" during the CHEST Annual Meetings. It's great to catch up with everyone. It's also helped me become more informed and engaged with all the work that CHEST does.

Who or what has inspired you in your journey in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine?
I've done a number of studies with people with HIV, and several of these research participants inspire me to continue forward in my clinical and research work. Many of my study participants are now in their 60s—something that was unimaginable to them when they were diagnosed. Their perseverance and actions, both in the early days of the epidemic and through today, changed the face of HIV science and LGBTQ+ rights, and they inspire me.

What activities or hobbies do you enjoy that might surprise your colleagues?
Some of my colleagues think I'm calm and collected, but that's not my natural state! I start every morning with journaling, meditation, and yoga. I've learned that this 30 to 40 minutes of self-care time in the morning is way more valuable than any work task I could accomplish.

What is something you cannot live without (after family and friends)?
My pugs. I have two sweet pugs, and while I'll have to say goodbye one day, I think a relationship with a dog or dogs is just one of the most amazing things about life. We humans certainly don't deserve them.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with your Interest Group peers?
I really look forward to seeing this Interest Group grow!

MORE ABOUT LGBTQ+ AT CHEST INTEREST GROUP »