CTS Inspirations

Dear CTS members, For me, the month of November is a time to give thanks. It reminds me to to be thankful for the wonderful people in my life both at work and at home, and grateful for a career that enables me to strive to make a difference in people’s lives and in the world every day.

I’d like to begin by personally acknowledging the disruption in many of our lives by the power shutdowns and devastating wildfires. As I write this, our own home has been without electricity or internet for more than 96 hours. It has been a dramatic re- minder to consider how to best prepare my family and my patients for future events.

There is still time to register for our Southern California CTS Educational Conference on October 4-5, 2019 at the Hotel Irvine! Here is the link to registration: http://calthoracic.org/events/2019-southern-annual-educational-conference/. If you have not yet reviewed the program, let me bring to your attention the Saturday afternoon Hands-On session in Pleural Procedures.

It is that “Back to School” time of year. As you are crossing things off your To Do list, don’t miss out on the Early Bird deadline of September 13th to register for our Southern California Educational Conference on October 4-5, 2019 at the Hotel Irvine in Irvine! Here is the link to registration:

https:// calthoracic.org/events/2019-southern-annual-educational-conference/

“Carl” the fog has rolled into San Francisco, so I know that Summer is well underway! Hopefully, you are finding some time to enjoy the beauty and different climates that California has to offer. As you look forward to the Fall, I hope you are making plans to be at our Southern California Conference from October 4-5, 2019 at the Hotel Irvine in Irvine!

Happy Summer! The CTS Board of Directors held a very productive conference call this month. We have determined that it is time to make some amendments to our bylaws, so your input will be requested in the near future. In addition, we have an opening on the Executive Committee for Treasurer and for a Representative to the ATS Council of Chapter Representatives.

I would like to begin by congratulating our California Thoracic Society Out- standing Clinician Awardee Dr. Steven Hays, Professor of Medicine at Uni- versity of California San Francisco. Please join members of CTS in honoring Dr. Hays at the Council of Chapter Representatives reception at the ATS inter- national conference on Monday, May 20 (details included below.)

This month in our edition of CTS inspirations we are highlighting pulmonary hypertension and the resources available here in California for managing this challenging disease. Pulmonary hypertension remains difficult to diagnose and difficult to manage despite the progress in available therapies over the past two decades.

March is Pulmonary Rehabilitation Month! As a lung transplant pulmonologist, participation in pulmonary rehabilitation is required for all of my patients, and I have witnessed personally how much benefit these programs provide to people suffering from lung disease.

Are you making the most of your CTS membership? Many of you may be aware of the two annual educational conferences that CTS now offers (and stay tuned for more information about the upcoming Southern California Conference in October 2019 and the Northern California Conference in January 2020.)