Meet the 2023 Winner: Chris Ryerson MD

Dr. Chris Ryerson completed his core clinical training at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and an interstitial lung disease (ILD) fellowship and Master’s Degree in Clinical Research at the University of California San Francisco before joining UBC faculty in 2011. He is a Professor of Medicine at UBC, director of the St. Paul's Hospital ILD clinical and research program, and Head of the Division of Respiratory Medicine at Providence Health Care. Dr. Ryerson chairs the Canadian Registry for Pulmonary Fibrosis and is involved in several national and international clinical practice guidelines on the diagnosis and management of fibrotic ILD. He has mentored dozens of trainees from across Canada and internationally over the last decade.

Description:

This award is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to mentoring, training, and guidance of junior pulmonary/critical care medicine individuals and/or colleagues in research, education or clinical care. We encourage nomination of diverse nominees, including but not limited to gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, country, area of focus and primary occupation.

Award Presentation:

Awardees will be presented with a framed certificate during the annual Clinical Problems Membership Meeting at the ATS International Conference, during the Clinical Problems Assembly business meeting at which time the Chair of the Clinical Problems Assembly and Planning Committee chair will jointly present the award to the awardee. The awardee will have the opportunity to speak about what this award means to them. Awardees will also be announced on ATS platforms including the website and social media accounts. A letter of recognition will also be sent to the designated institutional leader.

Criteria:

• Nominee: Recipient must be a primary member of the Clinical Problems Assembly as this award seeks to highlight ATS members with direct and specific contributions to the ATS Clinical Problems Assembly.
  • have been an active mentor in pulmonary/critical care medicine for at least 10 years, with the rank of Associate Professor or Professor (or equivalent).
  • be recognized as having the characteristics of a successful mentor (e.g., support, altruism, availability, professionalism).
  • demonstrate a track record of successful mentorship as documented by individual mentee accomplishments, impact on mentee career development, and mentee career advancement to independence in clinical medicine, teaching, or administration.
• Nominator: Nominations can be submitted by any ATS member. Nominators who are not Clinical Problems Assembly members can submit nominations, as long as the nominee meets the qualifications above and the area of the nominee’s work matches the award goals.
• Application elements:
  • Nominee's curriculum vitae must be included.
  • Provide a table listing current and past mentees including mentees’ current employment/position, number of co-publications, grant funding, educational achievement, and/or other relevant metrics.
  • Provide a short letter (three-page maximum) in support of your nominee addressing each of the above criteria. We encourage the nomination letter to specifically discuss contributions by the nominee to the Clinical Problems Assembly and how the nominee and/or their work advances diversity, equity and inclusion within the ATS.
  • Provide up to three letters of support (each letter three-page maximum) from current/prior mentees or colleagues describing their experiences with regard to the nominee’s mentoring accomplishments.
  • Name, title and email address for nominee’s division chief, or other institutional leader who should be notified of this nomination and award, if selected.
• Scoring Metric(s): Applications will be reviewed by the Clinical Problems planning committee, utilizing a scoring scale ranking each of the following metrics:
  • Expertise as a mentor.
  • Extent and impact of contributions to mentorship in pulmonary/critical care medicine.
  • Past, present or anticipated future contributions to the ATS Clinical Problems Assembly.
• Additional minor scoring criteria can include nominee characteristics such as efforts related to diversity/equity/inclusion or work/location in a low-to-middle income setting. Nominators are encouraged to highlight these and other unique characteristics of the nominee they would like the committee to consider.
• Repeat or carry over applications: Nominations for this award will not be carried over from prior years. A new application will need to be submitted in order for the same nominee to be considered for the same award during the next year's call for award nominations of application. 

View Previous Award Recipients