We are only a few months into the new year, and it already feels like so much has been accomplished. We recently wrapped up the meeting of the Scientific Program Committee at CHEST Headquarters, where hundreds of sessions for CHEST 2025 were selected and slotted into a tentative schedule. It was a grueling two days for those on the committee, but it will be a strong educational program because of their hard work.

I am very much looking forward to CHEST 2025 in Chicago, October 19 to 22—to see my friends and colleagues, to learn with some of the best and brightest in the field, and to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the American College of Chest Physicians. This is a pivotal year for the organization to step back and ask ourselves, “Where are we now compared with where we started, and where do we want to be at 100 years?”

It’s a thrill to be at the helm of the CHEST Board of Regents at such an exciting time, and I look forward to celebrating 90 years with all of you.

Before I talk too much about the meeting happening in October, I want to bring us back to the present. And for my column this month, I thought it fitting to focus on women’s health, with March being Women’s History Month and home to International Women’s Day (March 8). In my clinical practice, when I think of women’s health, I am reminded of the staggering gender disparities that are present in lung cancer, specifically, and want to raise awareness of these troubling statistics.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in women, claiming the lives of more women than breast, ovarian, and cervical cancers combined. While statistics for overall lung cancer are decreasing due to smoking interventions, we are seeing that the decline is much slower in women. For the last several years, more women were diagnosed with lung cancer than men each year in the United States. When polled, about 30% of men say they have been counseled by their clinicians about lung cancer screening, whereas only 15% of women have been counseled. It is unfortunate that women are not always given the opportunity to have these conversations because research shows that women seem to have a higher risk for lung cancer for the same level of smoking as men.

I’m an optimist at heart, so the good news is that the more we elevate these issues and bring them to the forefront of our conversations, the more interventions we can encourage. The fact is that we need more women to get screened for lung cancer, and, to do this, we need more clinicians recommending women get screened for lung cancer.

Throughout the month of March, I ask that you share these numbers with your colleagues and help celebrate women by improving their care and helping to curb these statistics.

P.S. Please use #CHEST90 on all social media platforms throughout the year to help us celebrate CHEST’s 90th anniversary.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2025 issue of CHEST Physician.