Beginning in May 2021, Dr. Jack Harkema, University Distinguished Professor and Albert C. and Lois E. Dehn Endowed Chair in Veterinary Medicine, will chair the American Thoracic Society’s (ATS) Environmental Health Policy Committee for three years. The Committee acts as a collaborative resource for the ATS Government Relations Office and advises the ATS Executive Committee and Board of Directors on issues of priority and policy, among other critical roles.

“It is an honor to serve the Society and public health in this capacity,” says Harkema, who also directs the Laboratory for Environmental and Toxicologic Pathology and the Mobile Air Research Laboratories at Michigan State University. “I look forward to continued work with a diverse group of knowledgeable pulmonary clinicians, nurses, respiratory scientists, and public health professionals in promoting national policies that are designed to ensure clean, breathable air and health protection from environmental and occupational airborne pollutants and infectious agents.”

In 2018, Harkema became one of only three veterinarians to be part of the first class of ATS Fellows; the vast majority of fellows are doctors of human pulmonary medicine.

“Dr. Harkema’s dedicated collaboration with the American Thoracic Society, as well as his vast body of research, helps to highlight the contributions of both animal and human health experts to pulmonary medicine,” says Dr. Srinand Sreevatsan, associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies at the College. “His findings and accomplishments are testament to the impact veterinary medicine has on global health.”

The ATS is an international society of more than 16,000 members—physicians, research scientists, nurses, and other allied healthcare professionals—whose mission is to improve health worldwide by advancing research, clinical care, and public health in respiratory disease, critical illness, and sleep disorders.

For more information, visit the ATS website at thoracic.org.