Bridging Specialties®: Timely Diagnosis for ILD
May 17, 2022
The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) and Three Lakes Foundation
are announcing a steering committee of experts in the fields of pulmonary
medicine and primary care medicine to lead an initiative called Bridging Specialties™: Timely Diagnosis for ILD.
Composed of pulmonologists, primary care physicians, and a nursing
professional, the steering committee will work to create materials that
will aid in reducing the time it takes to reach a diagnosis for
interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) like pulmonary fibrosis (PF).
Affecting about 400,000 people in the United States, ILDs comprise a group
of diseases that cause lung inflammation and/or permanent scars and are
frequently misdiagnosed as more common lung diseases. Some studies show
that reaching an appropriate diagnosis for rarer lung diseases can take
upwards of several years.
Members of the Bridging Specialties™: Timely Diagnosis for ILD steering committee include individuals from leading medical institutions,
health systems and organizations across the country:
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Daniel F. Dilling, MD, FCCP, Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care,
Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL.
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Andrew Duggan, MPH,
Patient Engagement and Innovation Leader, Boston, MA.
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Jessica Glennie, APRN, MSN, Nurse practitioner, Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic, Cleveland
Clinic, Cleveland, OH.
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Timothy Hernandez, MD, Internal Medicine Physician, Managing Partner, Pasteur Medical Associates, San Antonio, TX.
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Corey D. Kershaw, MD, FCCP, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical
Care Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas,
TX.
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Tejaswini Kulkarni, MD, MPH, FCCP, Assistant Professor, Director, Interstitial
Lung Disease Program, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care
Medicine, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL.
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William Lago, MD, Family Medicine Physician, Wooster Family Health Center, Cleveland
Clinic Foundation, Wooster, OH.
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Andrew H. Limper, MD, FCCP, Annenberg Professor of Pulmonary Medicine,
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Director – Thoracic
Disease Research Unit, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN.
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Anoop M. Nambiar, MD, MS, FCCP, Professor of Medicine, Founding Director of the UT Health San Antonio
Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases, Division of Pulmonary and
Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, The University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio and South Texas Veterans Health
Care System, San Antonio, TX.
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Mary Beth Scholand, MD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary
Diseases, Director, Interstitial Lung Program, University of Utah, Salt
Lake City, UT
“While interstitial lung diseases do not affect a substantial amount of the
population, those touched by the disease are impacted tremendously,” says
steering committee member and pulmonologist, Dr. Andrew H. Limper. “Any delay in receiving a diagnosis
is time that could be dedicated to finding a treatment therapy that can
improve their quality of life. I look forward to the work of this committee
helping to shape how patients with ILDs are diagnosed and treated in the
future.”
Starting with data-gathering surveys sent to both primary care physicians
and pulmonologists, the committee will evaluate the findings to develop
tools that can be used to aid in diagnosing complex lung diseases.
“Having experts from both pulmonary and primary care medicine as members of
the steering committee is critical,” says steering committee member and
Family Medicine physician, Dr. William Lago. “Patients
first see their family medicine or primary care clinicians and, all too
often, the most complex lung diseases present in ways that are
indistinguishable from more common conditions like asthma and COPD.
Bringing together experts in both fields will yield the best results in
creating a path to diagnosis.”
Select members of the steering committee and representatives from CHEST and
Three Lakes Foundation will be on-site (booth 2003) at the
2022 American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Francisco to
provide additional details on the steering committee and the joint
collaboration. To learn more about the initiative, visit the
Three Lakes Foundation website
or the
CHEST website and sign-up to receive updates: http://info.chestnet.org/bridging-specialties-timely-diagnosis-for-ild-patients.
About the American College of Chest Physicians
The American College of Chest Physicians® (CHEST) is the global
leader in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chest diseases. Its
mission is to champion advanced clinical practice, education, communication
and research in chest medicine. It serves as an essential connection to
clinical knowledge and resources for its 19,000+ members from around the
world who provide patient care in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. For information about the American College of Chest Physicians,
and its flagship journal CHEST®, visit chestnet.org.
About Three Lakes Foundation
Three Lakes Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to serving as a catalyst
for uniting research, industries and philanthropy in pulmonary fibrosis. We
connect entrepreneurs, advocates and institutions to an innovation
ecosystem that will transform our approach to improve time to diagnosis and
accelerate new therapies. To learn more, visit threelakesfoundation.org.