PHA Leaders Explore Care Access, Partnership Opportunities ATS_400x320px PHA leadership met with many industry leaders and corporate partners during the American Thoracic Society Conference. Pulmonary Hypertension Association leaders discussed progress on PH drug discovery and development and opportunities for collaboration.PHA discussed therapy development and partnership opportunities with representatives from Aerovate Therapeutics, Bayer, CorVista Health, CVS Specialty, Gossamer Bio, Halo Biosciences, Johnson & Johnson, Liquidia, Merck, Oxiwear, Respira Therapeutics, United Therapeutics and VisionHealth.At the conference, PHA President and CEO Matt Granato was appointed to the ATS Health Equity and Diversity Committee. During the event, Granato and other PHA leaders attended sessions on diversity and inclusion. The sessions highlighted the need to reach out to disadvantaged populations to ensure all patients receive the care they need.Of the 500 sessions at the event, several focused on pulmonary hypertension and featured presenters involved in PHA. Those sessions include:
  • “Cohort Studies in Pulmonary Hypertension Defining Novel Phenotypes.” This session covered PH biobanks, registries, and cohort studies. PHA Board of Trustees member Colleen Connor shared a patient perspective in the opening remarks.
  • “An Inconvenient Truth: Health Disparities and Health Care Inequality in Respiratory Medicine.” Presenters included PHA Scientific Leadership Council member Vinicio de Jesus Perez,  associate professor of medicine and staff physician, Stanford Medicine’s adult pulmonary hypertension clinic, and Roberto Bernardo, director of the pulmonary hypertension program at Indiana University School of Medicine.
  • “New Omics Findings from the NHLBI PVDomics Program in Pulmonary Hypertension Patients.” The PVDomics multi-center clinical study was funded by PHA and the National Institutes of Health.
  • “Research Funding Opportunities.” Elizabeth Joseloff, PHA vice president of quality care and research, shared information about PHA’s research grant opportunities.
More than 27,000 speakers/authors addressed respiratory diseases and conditions in 500 sessions at the May 17-22 event for scientists, clinicians, nurses, allied health professionals, medical educators and early career professionals.

Photo: Courtesy American Thoracic Society.