The ATS 2024 International Conference Keynote Series focuses on timely, relevant topics to the pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine community with engaging presentations from leaders whose significant contributions have impacted the selected Keynote topics. This year, the Keynote Series will address artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, the history of modern mechanical ventilation, and care for immigrant and undocumented populations.

The Keynote Series will be held from 8-8:45 a.m. PT on Sunday, May 19, to Tuesday, May 21, inside the San Diego Convention Center.

AI has rapidly become one of the most discussed developing technologies in recent memory. Some of the most exciting potential applications for AI could significantly impact the tools and methods providers and researchers use to advance care for patients. However, leveraging AI in medicine is far from a risk-free proposition. Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA, Matthew DeCamp, MD, PhD, FACP, and Michael Howell, MD, MPH, chief clinical officer, Google, will lead this Keynote session to provide a multi-faceted perspective on AI in medicine and look ahead toward future applications.

“I don’t think the innovation we need is in artificial intelligence because the technology itself is going to keep improving. There’s always going to be a better algorithm,” Dr. Rodriguez explained. “The innovation is figuring out how we use these tools to bring people to health care delivery. That’s the gap we still haven’t closed.”

Another Keynote session will trace the history of mechanical ventilation in medicine. Only a few years removed from the COVID-19 pandemic, providers are all too aware that without mechanical ventilation, the shocking death toll from the disease would have been significantly higher.

Author, critical care doctor, and researcher Hannah Wunsch, MD, MSc, chronicled the development of mechanical ventilation techniques in the autumn of 1952 during a polio epidemic in her book, The Autumn Ghost: How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care.

Capturing testimony from doctors, nurses, and patients, Dr. Wunsch captures the dramatic true story of the innovators who came together in an overwhelmed Copenhagen hospital to save the lives of many patients dying of respiratory failure.

“I wanted to share this story with our medical community and also write a book that would help people outside of medicine to understand the importance of these advances and what they have done for us in terms of medical care over the years,” Dr. Wunsch said. “What’s astonishing is how recent these developments are. What it meant to be critically ill before these innovations, and the lack of useful interventions or care techniques is hard to fathom.”

The final Keynote lecture will cover patient care for immigrants and undocumented people. Marc B. Schenker, MD, MPH; Denisse Rojas Marquez, MD, MPP; and Julie Linton, MD, FAAP, will summarize the current state of care for these populations and the best practices to provide optimal care. The session will be moderated by Fernando Holguin, MD, MPH. This Keynote panel will feature clinician and patient perspectives to share a comprehensive summary of the challenges and top-of-mind considerations for those seeking and providing care.

“The families we care for who immigrated to the United States are so profoundly resilient,” Dr. Linton said. “It is such an honor and a privilege to care for these families who put their hope above everything else, and I think there is so much we can learn from caring for these patients who have experienced extreme levels of adversity.”

Additional information regarding the ATS 2024 San Diego Keynote Sessions can be found on the International Conference website.