North America Task Force
Task force leaders
Kurt R Stenmark, United States
Sebastien Bonnet, Canada
Type of task force
The North American Task Force was created in late Spring 2015 and in this inaugural year, the Task Force hosted the Annual PVRI gathering in Denver, Colorado at the International Meeting of the American Thoracic Society.
2020 Annual Report
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, this Task Force has not been able to undertake specific activities during 2020. The Task Force leaders and many of its members were called to frontline duties caring for the sickest and most vulnerable patients. We express our sincere and heartfelt thanks to all our colleagues for their tireless and invaluable work during this crisis.
2019 Annual Report
In 2019 the North American Task force has been extremely busy in promoting pulmonary vasculature and right ventricular based research.
- Indeed, several of our members, Anna Hennes; Steve Provencher and Sébastien Bonnet, with the help of international members, Soni Savai-Pullamsetti, Joan Albert and Christophe Guignabert, have been in charge of organising the PVRI 13th Annual World Congress in Barcelona, which has been the most attended event in PVRI history.
- The meeting offered a new format to our annual meeting with new abstract-based sessions, including oral and rapid-fire sessions on pulmonary vascular hypertension and other pulmonary vascular diseases.
- In May 2019, the PVRI was well represented in Dallas at the International American Thoracic Society (ATS), which was organised by Professors Vinicio De Jesus Perez and Sébastien Bonnet. Numerous PVRI members, especially young investigators, had the chance to present their work, and an outstanding and passionate debate on the use of animal models in pulmonary hypertension research took place.
- Finally, in November 2019, several members of the PVRI attended the International American Heart Association (AHA) meeting, where two prestigious awards were given to outstanding members of our North American Task Force. Professor Evangelos Michelakis received the Kenneth D. Bloch Memorial Lecture Award, while Professor Paul Hassoun received the Dickinson Lecture Award.
Recognition
We also wish to congratulate several members of our Task Force, who have been nominated to prestigious and important positions within the community:
- Dr Elena Goncherova: elected Chair of the Programme Committee for pulmonary circulation of the ATS and who will help Professor Sébastien Bonnet in his duties as Chair.
- Dr Paul Yu: nominated chair of the 3CPR Scientific & Clinical Education Lifelong Learning (SCILL) Committee at the AHA
- Dr Vinicio De Jesus Perez, who will assist Dr Yu as the SCILL Vice-Chair
- Professor Sébastien Bonnet: nominated Vice-Chair and upcoming Chair of the 3CPR council of the AHA, and will assist Professor Fumito Ichinose.
