Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, has dedicated her career to improving the lives of children with asthma. She will share her experiences on behalf of these young patients and as an advocate for health equity during the annual Diversity Forum, which will take place from 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. PT on Sunday, May 19, at the ATS 2024 International Conference. 

Dr. Bryant-Stephens serves as the chief health equity officer of the Center for Health Equity at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. For the past 30 years, she has been in clinical primary care practice, earning national recognition for her work in community-driven, evidence-based research in asthma and environmental asthma triggers. 

“The speaker that we pick each year is someone who can share an inspirational story about their journey through health care and show our younger members that there are people who are blazing trails and elevating diversity within the fields of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine as well as research,” said Meshell Johnson, MD, chair of the ATS Membership Committee, which organizes and presents the forum. 

In 1997, Dr. Bryant-Stephens founded the Community Asthma Prevention Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She also serves as the medical director for CAPP, an asthma program that utilizes community health workers and residents to implement asthma interventions in underserved, poorly resourced, inner-city communities.

She has led multiple studies and projects to help improve parents’ management of children’s asthma symptoms using community participatory research methodology funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and Merck Childhood Asthma Network. For 13 years under her leadership, the CAPP Collaborative has convened an annual conference, Fighting Asthma Disparities, which is attended by local, state, and national stakeholders.

Dr. Bryant-Stephens is a founding member of the Pennsylvania Asthma Partnership and past member of the U.S. EPA Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee. She coordinates asthma care education annually for primary care physicians in the CHOP CARE network. She has served on local and national advisory boards and currently serves on the Board of Health for Philadelphia. She recently became the inaugural senior director for CHOP’s Center for Health Equity.

Underrepresented Trainee Development Scholarships — formerly known as Minority Trainee Development Scholarships — recognize trainees who are members of underrepresented minority groups, and they will be presented at the Diversity Forum. Recipients are selected for the quality of the science in their submitted abstracts, among other criteria. The scholarships are supported by the ATS.

The 2024 Health Equity Fellowship recipients will also be presented during the forum. These fellowships are designed to support the efforts of senior fellows, post-doctoral students, or junior faculty with research, clinical, and policy endeavors to advance health equity for patients with respiratory disease, critical care illness or injury, and sleep-disordered breathing.

The Diversity Forum will be hosted by Dr. Johnson and ATS Membership Committee Vice Chair Alexandra Noel, PhD. There is a registration fee to attend.

“This event is an opportunity to network with other people who share similar passions in increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the field of respiratory medicine,” Dr. Johnson said. “It is also a great way for early and mid-career members who might be looking at ways in which they can potentially impact the field to connect with potential mentors who may not be at their institution.”

ATS thanks Johnson & Johnson for its support of the Diversity Forum.