Wildfires: Yes, This is Still a Concern, Note Lung Health Experts, Even Outside the Northwest

Newswise — Alison Lee, MD, MS, is chair of the Environmental Health Policy Committee at the American Thoracic Society. Dr. Lee is also an Associate Professor of Medicine with tenure and pulmonologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Lee is an NIH-funded investigator whose research examines the impact of prenatal and early childhood environmental exposures, including ambient and household air pollution and climate sensitive variables such as heat and precipitation, on life course health. Following the release of the 2023 Health of the Air Report, led by the ATS and Marrone Institute of Urban Management at NYU, Dr. Lee interviewed study author and Marrone Institute Program Director, Kevin Cromar, PhD about the report’s findings on wildfires.

Erika Maria Mosesón, MD, MA, is a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician in Portland, Oregon. She is a member of the American Thoracic Society Environmental Health Policy Committee as well as an American Lung Association Health Professional for Clean Air and Climate Action. She serves on the board of the American Lung Association of Oregon and is a past President of the Oregon Thoracic Society. She is the founder of AirHealthOurHealth.org, an educational resource on the links between the air we breathe and our health. She hosts the Air Health Our Health podcast and is engaged in advocacy for clean air both indoors and outdoors.  

Gillian Goobie, MD, PhD, is vice chair of the American Thoracic Society's Environmental Health Policy Committee.

Dr. Gillian Goobie completed her MD and Internal Medicine training at the University of Calgary followed by her Respirology fellowship at the University of British Columbia. After her fellowship, she trained at the University of Pittsburgh for three years, obtaining her PhD in the School of Public Health with a focus on environmental epigenetics and investigating the impact of air pollution on patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD).

Currently, Dr. Goobie is a clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia and respiratory medicine physician at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. In her ongoing research, Dr. Goobie is working to expand our understanding of how one's lived environment interacts with their genetics to contribute to the development and progression of ILDs.