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Pulmonary Symposia

The Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine hosts many symposia each year to further the research and education mission of the division. Learn more about upcoming and previously held symposia using the links below, or learn more about all our conferences at our events page.

 Molecular Mechanisms of Lung Disease

This program will highlight important advances in the pathobiology of lung disease and repair with an emphasis on pathways that might serve as new targets for therapy.

 Sznajder Lecture

Dr. Jacob “Iasha” Sznajder is a pioneer and leader in the field of lung epithelial biology and acute lung injury research. His research, which expands across three decades, is making significant contributions to the treatment and understanding of diseases of the respiratory system and critically ill patients, and he is actively pursuing impactful research on lung injury, aging, and proteostasis. Under his leadership the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine has grown from seven to forty MD, MD/PhD, and PhD full-time faculty members, and the research enterprise has transformed into a leader in pulmonary science. This day long series of talks celebrates the research of Dr. Jacob Iasha Sznajder and recognizes his important contributions to the field of lung research.

 National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics National Conference

This is an annual meeting of Black Lung Clinics Providers. Medical sessions cover the latest information regarding diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients with mineral dust associated lung disease. The audience also includes occupational medicine, primary care and pulmonary physicians, clinic nurses, respiratory therapists, medical lab technicians, administrators, attorneys, lay representatives, outreach workers, benefits counselors, support staff and all others who work for victims of occupational pneumoconiosis.

 Annual Lung Research Symposium

The Annual Lung Research Symposium provides a research forum to highlight the work of trainees. Faculty and trainees give 30-minute research presentations to a wide audience of trainees focused on lung sciences from the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University. Each year a former trainee who has left Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and gone on to a successful independent career, is invited back to present. The final speaker is a prominent scientist in the field of Lung Science. Interspersed between the trainees' and invited speakers' presentations is a poster session that features the work of pre- and postdoctoral trainees. The poster session is accompanied by a reception.

 Molecular Mechanisms Driving Physiology and Pathology During Aging

In this conference, leaders in the field of aging biology and metabolism will discuss the molecular and signaling pathways that underlie relationship between organismal and cellular metabolism and age-related tissue dysfunction.  The discussions will focus on therapies targeting metabolism and proteostasis that might prevent or reverse the loss of resilience in older individuals. 

 Cugell Lectureship

As the first Chief of the Pulmonary Division at Northwestern University, David W Cugell, MD, established the first Pulmonary Function Laboratory (PFT) in the Chicago area and started the Pulmonary Fellowship Program to train future generations of pulmonary physicians. Since then, the Division, PFT lab and fellowship program have evolved and continued to grow to become one of the finest in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. The Cugell Lectureship, part of the Department of Medicine Medical Grand Rounds, recognizes the important contributions of the late Dr. Cugell, and seeks to continue his mission in furthering education in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

 Glassroth Lectureship

Dr. Jeffrey Glassroth was president and Chief Executive Officer of the Northwestern Medicine Faculty Foundation (now part of Northwestern Medicine) where he also served as Interim Dean of the Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr Glassroth is widely recognized for his research on lung infections and for his leadership in Academic Healthcare Administration. The Glassroth Lectureship, part of the Department of Medicine Medical Grand Rounds, recognizes the important contributions of Dr. Glassroth to the Northwestern community.

 Northwestern Annual Pulmonary Symposium

This yearly educational conference held at Northwestern Medicine’s downtown medical campus is designed for pulmonologists and other healthcare providers involved in the care of patients with pulmonary disease. It highlights insights and recent advances in pulmonary medicine. Didactic sessions offer educational opportunities and didactic and case studies an opportunity to discuss key issues and interesting cases with colleagues and Northwestern Medicine faculty.

 Systems Biology Hackathon

The Systems Biology Hackathon is hosted in conjunction with NCBI. The hackathon is designed for researchers including students and postdocs, who have already engaged in use of bioinformatics data or been involved with development of pipelines for analysis from high-throughput experiments. The central idea behind the hackathon is to educate the participants with novel approaches in bioinformatics analyses, to promote networking among computational biologists (or bioinformaticians), and to develop bioinformatics software prototypes.