How PHA Conferences Benefit the PH Community

Dear friends,

Next week, many of us will be traveling to Dallas for PHA 2026 International PH Conference and Scientific Sessions. This conference is especially meaningful, as it coincides with our 35^th anniversary.

PHA conferences began in June 1994, three years after PHA was founded. A few hundred people with pulmonary hypertension, their families, healthcare professionals and researchers gathered outside Atlanta to connect and learn from each other.

Many attendees had never met anyone else with PH. People with PH and their families were looking for support, information and hope. Healthcare professionals were looking for shared knowledge from their colleagues and insight from patients. And a handful of scientists came to draw blood samples and gather information from patients to conduct research.

In every PHA conference since, our attendees have been looking for the same things. Like PHA’s founders, they believed the conference could improve understanding of PH and enhance quality of lives. They also believed the conference could help secure earlier diagnoses and lead to treatment breakthroughs.

In that respect, our PHA 2026 attendees are no different from previous PHA conference attendees. But in many important ways, they differ significantly. At early conferences, targeted PH treatment didn’t exist. Today, we have a variety of FDA-approved oral, infused and inhaled therapies, with many others in development.

Attendees today also have a better understanding of how PH works in the body and what causes PH. At each conference, our professional attendees share their insight – with patients and families as well as their peers – on patient care, diagnosis, treatment and scientific developments. Attendees learn about those developments in education sessions and abstract presentations.

Even those who can’t attend a PHA conference benefit from that knowledge: Healthcare professionals bring back what they learned to patients in their care and colleagues in their clinics and institutions.

The entire PH community benefits from work conducted in our Research Room, where patients can participate in new studies. Thanks to participants in our first Research Room, scientists found enough people with familial PH to further their work toward identifying the PH gene BMPR2.

This year, patients can help researchers to identify other genes related to PH, determine the usefulness of a patient-focused decision-making tool, improve diagnostic testing and clinical monitoring, assess a potential new therapy, and evaluate a Fitbit program to encourage exercise.

But PHA conferences go beyond serious scientific information. Participants come together in many social activities to celebrate life with PH and honor those who came before them.

Throughout the years, patients and caregivers repeatedly recount the importance of connections they make at PHA conferences. And professionals, especially researchers, value getting to know patients outside the clinic or research study.

Our conferences are just part of the way PHA fulfills its mission to extend and enhance the lives of those affected by PH. We couldn’t carry out this important work without the support of our sponsors.

Even in 1994, we had unexpected support. The resort covered the cost of the event because its staff were so moved by the attendees and content. Relatives of founders Judy and Ed Simpson – who plan to join us in Dallas – provided video, design and print services.

In addition to the event sponsors, individual members of the PH community support us every day, with small donations and large.

Whether you’re joining us in Dallas or following the conference on social media, we value you as a member of the PHA community.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have comments or questions about PHA 2026, our work or how to get involved. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.

With gratitude and respect,