Time for ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’

Abstract

Dear colleagues, As President of the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS) and Chair of the Canadian Respiratory Conference (CRC) organizing committee, I am extremely excited to share with you this update on how the first CRC is taking shape! The venue is set, the preliminary program has been released and registrations are rolling in! Looking back at the evolution of the CTS and the Canadian Lung Association (CLA), I recognize that this conference has been in the making for a very long time. The CLA (or the Canadian Tuberculosis Association, as it was previously known) has always concerned itself with the education of physicians and health professionals, and has held annual meetings in the past with the help of physicians, health professionals who were part of the association, and other partners. Since its inception in 1958, the CTS has also worked to facilitate the education of its members through various means and collaborations, in Canada and abroad. Many of you may have already participated in the annual CTS scientific program, which was long held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In April 2007, the CTS conducted a collection of business meetings and events related to training, research and education in conjunction with the Lung Health Framework Summit in Ottawa, Ontario. The CTS component of the event brought together many members of the Canadian respiratory community, and there were extensive discussions on the future of the CTS as well as on respiratory health and medicine in Canada. This CTS event, a tremendous success from all perspectives, was conceived and orchestrated by then CTS President, Darcy Marciniuk. This meeting laid the conceptual groundwork (in fact, it was a trial run) for the larger and broader meeting we will all experience this coming June in Montreal, Quebec. Around that time, the concept of merging a national respiratory conference with the highly successful Canadian COPD Alliance (CCA) conference was floated. What a timely opportunity! We entered into discussions with the CCA, the CLA, and the Canadian Respiratory Health Professionals (CRHP). These discussions evolved into concrete plans for our upcoming first CRC: ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’. I hope that you have had the opportunity to explore the CRC preliminary program and have taken advantage of the early bird registration rates for the conference. If not, check out to find all the necessary information. As you will see, Roger Goldstein (Scientific Program Chair) and his team have developed a very exciting program that will appeal to clinicians, trainees and researchers, as well as to the broad community of health care professionals from both adult and pediatric perspectives. Numerous events and meetings are also being held in conjunction with the CRC, including the following (as a brief sampling): the annual meeting of the Canadian Respiratory Clinical Research Consortium the Respiratory Fellow Examination Preparation Course the National Resident/Fellow Research Competition meetings of CTS standing and ad hoc committees Another major highlight to be showcased at the CRC will be the preliminary launch of the draft ‘National Lung Health Framework: A Plan for Action on Lung Health in Canada’ to be shared by Nora Sobolov (President and CEO of the CLA) and Darcy Marciniuk. How fitting that the launch will take place at the CRC, where physicians, researchers and allied health professionals with an interest in respiratory health will be assembled for our first national collaborative conference! We are excited that this first CRC will be held in Montreal, and we are delighted with the strong collaboration we have had with the Quebec Lung Association and the Association des pneumologues de la province de Quebec in developing this major event. This premier CRC scientific program has been developed under the skilled guidance of Roger Goldstein (Chair of the Scientific Committee) and Co-chairs Robin McFadden (CTS) and Pat Camp (CRHP). The organizing committee, chaired by myself, is co-chaired by Dina Brooks (CCA), Mary-Pat Shaw (CLA) and Peter Vavougios (CRHP). I am very grateful to these dedicated volunteers and to all members of the scientific and organizing committees, as well as to the staff team, led by Janet Sutherland. It has been clear for some time now that there is a strong communal desire for a consolidated interdisciplinary respiratory meeting in Canada. With our partners, we have now set the stage for such a meeting, CRC 2008: ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’. CRC 2008 is only the beginning. Moving forward, we anticipate the creation of new partnerships to help nurture this annual conference into becoming an eminent showcase for respiratory health in Canada we can all share in. We invite you to be a part of this exciting inaugural Canadian conference whose time has come! Respectfully,