Reflect on 90 years of CHEST, help shape its future

In March 1935, a newly formed medical society launched a monthly publication to inform physicians about the diagnosis and treatment of TB. Later that year, about 40 people attended the organization’s first educational meeting. In the decades since, these legacies grew into the American College of Chest Physicians, the journal CHEST^®, and the CHEST Annual Meeting.

The founders of CHEST couldn’t have imagined what the future would hold, but their mission to bring clinicians together and advance patient care has remained timeless—if not more important than ever in today’s world. This October in Chicago, CHEST 2025 will reflect on and celebrate its rich history of scientific education and innovation while also focusing firmly on the future.

“For the 90th anniversary of CHEST, we will reflect on where we started, celebrate how far we’ve come, and look forward to where we’re headed,” said CHEST 2025 Scientific Program Committee Chair Sandhya Khurana, MD, FCCP. “Where will our field of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine be when CHEST turns 100? And what exciting breakthroughs lie on the horizon?”

During the meeting, October 19 to 22, a special series of 90th-anniversary sessions will examine a handful of disease states through this lens. Individual sessions on lung cancer, TB, interstitial lung disease, mechanical ventilation, vaccines, and asthma will explore the evolution of treatment up to the present day and preview what clinicians will face in the next 10 years. More details about these and other sessions can be found in the CHEST Events mobile app.

A timeline of CHEST milestones and medical breakthroughs will be on display in the McCormick Place Convention Center. And the meeting’s Opening Session, at 8 am CT on Sunday, October 19, will highlight how CHEST is empowering chest medicine clinicians and providers and setting the stage for the next decade in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine.

One of the biggest ways that CHEST is honoring its legacy and investing in the future is the 90 for 90 Campaign. This ambitious expansion of the CHEST Travel Grant program aims to fund travel grants for 90 early career clinicians to attend CHEST 2025. The campaign’s impact, however, stretches far beyond the $1,000 travel stipends, free meeting registrations, or individual recipients themselves, said Robert De Marco, MD, FCCP, Chair of the CHEST Board of Advisors.

“It’s about how you will take something you learned and bring it back to your community,” he said. “Will you be able to help do better lung cancer screening? Will you be able to set up things to allow people to get care that they might not have received? That’s what it’s really about.”

At a time of widespread funding uncertainty, CHEST is nearly doubling the number of travel grants that it provided in 2024 while also expanding grants in other areas as well. Every dollar contributed by a donor is passed along fully to the grant recipient because CHEST covers all administrative costs.

By supporting the 90 for 90 Campaign and other philanthropic efforts, CHEST members are directly supporting a mission that began in 1935—and laying the foundation for 2035.

“It means a lot,” Dr. De Marco said. “Down the road, all of this effort will pay off, both for our patients and for CHEST in general.”