The Amberson Lecture recognizes a career of major contributions to clinical or basic research that have advanced our fundamental understanding of the basic, translational, or clinical approaches to respiratory disease, critical illness, or sleep disorders. This award also recognizes exemplary professionalism, collegiality and citizenship through mentorship and leadership in the ATS community. The Lecture is given in honor of James Burns Amberson, an international authority on chest disease and tuberculosis.
| 1956 | James J. Waring, MD |
| “The Chest Clinic at Bellevue Hospital: A Better Mousetrap” | |
| 1957 | Richard L. Riley, MD |
| “Aerial Dissemination of Pulmonary Tuberculosis” | |
| 1958 | Esmond R. Long, MD |
| “The Supporting Structure of Immunity in the Therapy of Tuberculosis” | |
| 1959 | Frank L. Horsfall, Jr., MD |
| “Virus Infections of the Respiratory Tract” | |
| 1960 | Sidney Raffel, MD |
| “Aspects of Contemporary Research in Immunology” | |
| 1961 | Julius H. Comroe, Jr., MD |
| “Recent Advances in Pulmonary Physiology” | |
| 1962 | Walsh Mc Dermott, MD |
| “The Chemotherapy of Tuberculosis” | |
| 1963 | George W. Wright, MD |
| “A Consideration of the Etiology of Emphysema in Terms of Contemporary Knowledge” | |
| 1964 | Rene Dubos, PhD |
| “Anti-Tuberculosis Immunity” | |
| 1965 | Georges Canetti, MD |
| “Present Aspects of Bacterial Resistance in Tuberculosis” | |
| 1966 | Dickinson W. Richards, MD |
| “The Right Heart and the Lung” | |
| 1967 | E.J.M. Campbell, MD |
| “The Management of Respiratory Failure” | |
| 1968 | Marvin Kuschner, MD |
| “The Causes of Lung Cancer” | |
| 1969 | Mary Ellen Avery, MD |
| “In Pursuit of Understanding the First Breath” | |
| 1970 | Gareth M. Green, MD |
| “In Defense of the Lung” | |
| 1971 | George B. MacKaness, MB |
| “Expressions of Cell-Mediated Hypersensitivity in the Lung” | |
| 1972 | Averill A. Liebow, MD |
| “Pulmonary Angiitis and Granulomatosis” | |
| 1973 | David V. Bates, MD |
| “The Fate of the Chronic Bronchitic: A Report on the Ten-Year Follow-Up Data of the Canadian Department of Veterans Affairs Coordinated Study of Chronic Bronchitis” | |
| 1974 | H. Sherwood Lawrence, MD |
| “Immunotherapy with Transfer Factor–Molecular Intervention at the Bedside” | |
| 1975 | Hermann Rahn, PhD |
| “Evolution, Hypothermia, and Hydrogen Ion Regulation” | |
| 1976 | Jere Mead, MD |
| “Of Guinea Pigs and Men” | |
| 1977 | Jack Pepys, MD |
| “Clinical and Therapeutic Significance of Patterns of Allergic Reactions of the Lungs to Extrinsic Agents” | |
| 1978 | Lynne M. Reid, MD |
| “The Pulmonary Circulation: Remodeling in Growth and Disease” | |
| 1979 | Maxwell Finland, MD |
| “Pneumococcal Pneumonia” | |
| 1980 | Eugene D. Robin, MD |
| “Of Men and Mitochondria: Coping with Hypoxic Dysoxia” | |
| 1981 | Edward A. Gaensler, MD |
| “Relationship of Environmental and Occupational Hazards to Lung Disease” | |
| 1982 | Claude J.M. Lenfant, MD |
| “Lung Research: Government and Community” | |
| 1983 | Ewald R. Weibel, MD |
| “Is the Lung Built Reasonably?” | |
| 1984 | John B. West, MD, PhD |
| “High Living: Lessons from Extreme Altitudes” | |
| 1985 | Gerard M. Turino, MD |
| “The Lung Parenchyma: A Dynamic Matrix” | |
| 1986 | Peter T. Macklem, MD |
| “The Clinical Relevance of Respiratory Muscle Research” | |
| 1987 | Norman C. Staub, MD |
| “Tell It Like It Was: Part II” | |
| 1988 | Leon E. Farhi, MD |
| “Hypoxia and Regional Pulmonary Blood Flow” | |
| 1989 | John F. Murray, MD |
| “The White Plague: Down and Out or Up and Coming?” | |
| 1990 | |
| No Amberson Lecture given | |
| 1991 | John A. Clements, MD |
| “Pulmonary Surfactant: Past, Present and Future” | |
| 1992 | Gordon L. Snider, MD |
| “Emphysema: The First Two Centuries–and Beyond” | |
| 1993 | Jay A. Nadel, MD |
| “The Airway Epithelium: More than a Zipper!” | |
| 1994 | Michael J. Welsh, MD |
| “The Biology of Cystic Fibrosis and Approach to Treatment” | |
| 1995 | Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD |
| “Molecular Modeling of Human Lung Disease in Transgenic Mice” | |
| 1996 | Peter J. Barnes, DM, DSc, FRCP |
| “Molecular Mechanisms of Asthma: Order Now Emerging from Chaos” | |
| 1997 | James C. Hogg, MD, PhD |
| “Latent Viral Infections in the Pathogenesis of Chronic Airways Disease” | |
| 1998 | Jeffrey M. Drazen, MD |
| “New Treatments for Asthma: The Leukotriene Story” | |
| 1999 | Leonard D. Hudson, MD |
| “ARDS: Lessons and Challenges” | |
| 2000 | Sami I. Said, MD |
| “Unraveling the Mysteries of Acute Lung Injury: Cell Death and Survival Pathways as Targets of Intervention” | |
| 2001 | Peter D. Wagner, MD |
| “Exercise Limitation in Cardiopulmonary Disease: Molecular, Mathematical and Physiological Perspectives” | |
| 2002 | David Gozal, MD |
| “Neurobehavioral Deficits of Sleep-Disordered Breathing: Evidence For Developmentally-Regulated Brain Injury, Inflammation and Repair” | |
| 2003 | Peter A. Ward, MD |
| “How the Lung Inflammatory Response Works” | |
| 2004 | Nicholas R. Anthonisen, MD, PhD |
| “The Lung Health Study” | |
| 2005 | Peter M. Henson, DVM, MD |
| “Apoptosis, Inflammation and Cell Homeostasis in Lung Health and Disease” | |
| 2006 | Gary W. Hunninghake, MD |
| “Sarcoidosis: Past, Present and Future” | |
| 2007 | Michael J. Holtzman, MD |
| “Translating Acute Viral Infection into Chronic Disease: A New Immune Axis for Chronic Inflammatory Lung Diseases” | |
| 2008 | Fernando D. Martinez, MD |
| “Genes and Environment in Asthma and COPD: Does It All Begin in the Cradle?” | |
| 2009 | Robert M. Senior, MD |
| “Lung Remodeling in COPD” | |
| 2010 | Dean Sheppard, MD |
| “How Integrins Modulate Lung Diseases: Much More than Cellular Glue” | |
| 2011 | Gordon R. Bernard, MD |
| “Sepsis and ALI: Trials and Tribulations” | |
| 2012 | Jack A. Elias, MD |
| “Transgenic Modeling and Chitinase-Like Proteins in Lung Injury and Repair” | |
| 2013 | David A. Schwartz, MD |
| “Genetic Determinants of Pulmonary Fibrosis” | |
| 2014 | Ronald Crystal, MD |
| “Airway Basal Cells: The Smoking Gun of COPD” | |
| 2015 | Augustine M.K. Choi, MD |
| “Cytoprotection and Therapeutics in Lung Disease: From Gaseous Molecules to Autophagy” | |
| 2016 | Marlene Rabinovitch, MD |
| “From EVE to ADAM to Finding a Cure for Pulmonary Hypertension” | |
| 2017 | Peter D. Pare, MD |
| "The Smoking Gun: Genetics and Genomics Reveals Causal Pathways for COPD" | |
| 2018 | Scott T. Weiss, MD, MS |
| "Network Methods to Prevent Asthma" | |
| 2019 | Jahar Bhattacharya, MD, DPhil |
| "Lung Injury Seen Through the Lens of the Alveolus" | |
| 2020 | Richard C. Boucher, Jr., MD |
| "Too Much of a Good Thing: Mucus Hyperconcentration in Bronchitis and Bronchiectasis" | |
| 2021 | Sally E. Wenzel, MD, ATSF |
| "Under the Asthma Umbrella: From Phenotypes to Fundamentals" | |
| 2022 | Naftali Kaminski, MD, ATSF |
| "Charting a Road Map to Curing Human Pulmonary Fibrosis" | |
| 2023 | Zea Borok, MBChB, ATSF |
| "Type I, Type II and Everything In Between: Unlocking the Plasticity of Alveolar Epithelial Cells" | |
| 2024 | Moisés Selman, MD |
| "The importance of Asking the Right Questions to Decipher Unknown Disease Mechanisms" | |
To nominate a colleague, please go to https://www.thoracic.org/professionals/respiratory-health-awards/index.php.
