Sally Wenzel Honored with Award from American Thoracic Society

Sally Wenzel, MD, professor, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Pitt School of Medicine, and director of the University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was recently honored with the Breathing for Life Award at the annual American Thoracic Society (ATS) Foundation Research Program Benefit. The award is the highest honor given to an ATS member for philanthropy.

Dr. Wenzel has had a passion for understanding and improving the treatment of asthma, in particular severe asthma. She served as Chair of the ATS workshop on severe asthma which developed the international consensus definition of severe asthma. She has worked to promote severe asthma as a disease whose pathogenesis goes beyond issues of non-compliance/adherence. Her studies of asthma phenotypes have led the field in understanding the complexities of asthma, and in explaining why mouse models of allergic inflammation do not adequately mirror the human condition.

The American Thoracic Society Annual Meeting, which brings together experts in pulmonary disease, critical illnesses, and sleep disorders, was held May 13-18 in San Francisco.