The ATS comprises more than 30,000 members from over 130 countries across a diverse array of critical care, pulmonary, and sleep medicine fields. The Society promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging for everyone across all its endeavors and initiatives. Fostering inclusive perspectives among constituents across distinct disciplines, career stages, and identities strengthens the impact of its mission to accelerate global innovation in advancing respiratory health through multidisciplinary collaboration, education, and advocacy.

The annual ATS Diversity Forum celebrates diversity in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine and offers accessible career insights and networking opportunities in a welcoming environment. This year’s event is scheduled for 11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 17. Pre-registration is required to attend the event as seating is limited to ensure an engaging, intimately interactive experience.

This year’s featured speaker is Jennifer L. Taylor, MD, MSCS, ATSF, who will explore the theme “Resilience in a Time of Challenge.” In addition to being the ATS International Conference Committee Chair, Dr. Taylor is a tenured professor of adult and pediatric pulmonary medicine at National Jewish Health (NJH), where she serves as medical director of Clinical Research Services, co-director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Program, and director of the CF Therapeutics Development Network.

Dr. Taylor is a strong advocate for racial justice and health equity, a passion that she has leveraged to impact patients across the country.

“I was an avid reader when I was younger, so I read things like ‘Roots,’ The Invisible Man,’ and ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X,’ and others about people who pushed back against oppression from the very beginning. It’s just sort of always been part of who I am and what I stand for,” Dr. Taylor explained. “As a physician, I’m in a particularly unique position to help patients, and one of them is to try to increase the fairness of misdiagnoses in people of color and the poor health outcomes that result from that. I’m someone who thinks if you get a seat at the table, then you need to use it to help other people.”

Dr. Taylor’s actions speak even louder than her words. As a leader in clinical trial design and conduct, she has served as a national and global primary investigator on numerous CF pharmaceutical trials. Beyond these efforts, she co-founded NJH’s historical Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion council and served as the interim associate vice president of DEI. Nationally, she has contributed to initiatives such as the CFF Racial Justice Working Group, ATS workshops on systemic racism in pediatric asthma, and NIH advisory efforts focused on equity in CF research. She also collaborates with patient organizations to raise awareness of CF in people of color.

“Health outcomes for people of color in the United States are suboptimal across the board, but I think it’s particularly relevant in CF because many physicians are biased due to being taught inaccurate information,” Dr. Taylor said. “It’s taught in many places that CF is a disease that only occurs in white people, but when I was training in the south at Duke, we had Black patients with CF. I realized, ‘I know what the book says, but these people are sitting right in front of me, so I can still help.’”

Dr. Taylor’s extensive professional achievements include her election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Clinical Excellence Society and numerous honors, including the ATS Distinguished Achievement Award (2023), Emily’s Entourage CF Trailblazer Award (2022), and Cystic Fibrosis Research Incorporated CF Champion Award (2021).

While considering the political tensions around terminology like DEI, Dr. Taylor shared that she thinks about her grandfather, who experienced the ups and downs of history as the son of a sharecropper, a participant in the Great Migration, and eventually as a witness to the once unfathomable election of Barack Obama.

“Even though things feel terrible right now, there have unfortunately been many more terrible times in this country for Black people and other people of color, but we’ve pushed through, and we can do that again,” Dr. Taylor said.

In addition to her focus on CF interventional research, Dr. Taylor’s research efforts include co-leading the 41-site MAYFLOWERS study on maternal and fetal outcomes in the era of CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators, as well as examining respiratory disease in orangutans.

Dr. Taylor is also a prolific writer. She has authored over 160 manuscripts, a book, and multiple chapters. She holds editorial roles with the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis and Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

The Diversity Forum will also honor the recipients of the Underrepresented Trainee Development Scholarships and the recipient of the ATS Fellowship in Health Equity and Diversity. The Underrepresented Trainee Development Scholarships and the Health Equity and Diversity Fellowship award are supported by the American Thoracic Society.

The Diversity Forum is organized and presented by the ATS Health Equity and Diversity Committee. This year’s event will be hosted by the committee’s chair, Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS. Lunch will be provided to attendees.

The ATS thanks Genentech for their generous support of the Diversity Forum.