ATS 2026 Highlighted Collaboration and Innovation in Pulmonary Medicine

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2026 International Conference brought clinicians together to discuss innovations within the field of cardiovascular, thoracic, and pulmonary medicine.

The conference was held in Orlando, Florida, from May 17 to 20, and underscored the importance of novel therapies and how clinicians, pharmacists, and policy makers can work together to improve health care delivery and patient outcomes. Numerous clinicians described ATS’ collaborative atmosphere as the main draw, noting that conversations between clinicians in different fields are pivotal to advancement in the field.

“I think spending some time with other individuals and going to other aspects of the meeting, learning about other aspects of respiratory health, I think is useful,” Jerry A. Krishna, MD, PhD, associate vice chancellor for population health sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago, said in an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®).

Many clinicians agreed that ATS, specifically, is a great space for pulmonologists to keep up with relevant data because the space is constantly evolving.

“I think this is one of the conferences that I've seen with the most incoming and in-progress clinical trials, and hopefully within the next 12 months we will see the results,” Yet Khor, MD, PhD, an associate professor of immunology research at Monash University, said in an interview with AJMC. “It's very exciting because we're still looking for the better pharmacotherapy that's going to improve health outcomes beyond what we can do now.”

Overall, the key takeaway from attending ATS is learning new information to prompt new questions that propel therapies and the field of thoracic medicine forward, Mark Metersky, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Connecticut Health, told AJMC.

“We're always going to have new questions, and this meeting is a great place to hear the cutting-edge discoveries and then hear what we need to do next,” he said.