UIC pulmonologist named president of American Thoracic Society
Dr. Patricia W. Finn, professor and head of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, has been named president of the American Thoracic Society. She will serve as its president through next May.
Dr. Patricia Finn, professor and head of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
The American Thoracic Society is an international society with more than 15,000 members and is the world’s leading medical association dedicated to advancing clinical and scientific understanding of pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders.
“I believe it is central to our mission as health care professionals and as a leading professional society to address questions of health equality,” says Dr. Finn. “I came to UIC because of this mission–to serve every patient who walks in the door. I think UIC can serve as a model for other institutions and organizations.”
Finn’s research focuses on immune-mediated pulmonary diseases, including transplantation, lung injury and asthma. She was appointed head of medicine at UIC in 2012.
Finn, an elected member of the Association of American Physicians, has received many other honors, including the Physician Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health, career investigator awards from the American Lung Association and American Heart Association, and the Elizabeth Rich Award for mentoring from the American Thoracic Society.
Finn has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. She sits on NIH study sections, recently as chair of the NIH Lung Cellular, Molecular and Immunobiology study section and as a permanent member of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute program project review committee. Finn has been a member of the American Thoracic Society since 1994.
Finn was previously the Kenneth M. Moser Professor of Medicine and director of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and was associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She earned her medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, where she did her residency. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in immunology at Harvard University School of Public Health.
