Meet the 2024 Winner: Rafael E. de la Hoz. MD, MPH, MS, ATSF, FACP, FCCP 

Rafael E. de la Hoz, MD, MPH, MS, ATSF, FACP, FCCP, is a Professor of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science, and Medicine, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York.  As an occupational pulmonologist, he has been most interested in inhalation airway diseases.  He joined Mount Sinai in late 2002 to establish the diagnosis and treatment protocols and establish the first fully dedicated clinic for the former workers and volunteers at the World Trade Center disaster site in 2001-2002.  He has been dedicated to characterizing the heterogeneous group of chronic lower airway and other diseases temporally associated with occupational toxicant exposures at the WTC disaster site, and has been principal investigator on federally funded grants to examine qualitative and quantitative chest CT scan measurements to characterize those lower airway diseases, investigate the adverse impact of obesity on those diseases, and the transitions to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other chronic lung diseases in the Mount Sinai WTC occupational cohort.  He has been a member of the ATS and its Environmental, Occupational and Population Health Assembly since 1998 and has served as a member of its Program and Planning Committees, and the Executive Committee of the Terrorism and Inhalation Disaster Section, as well as the ATS Program Review Subcomittee.  In the European Respiratory Society (ERS), he has been Secretary (2017-2020) and then Chair (2020-2023) of the Occupational and Environmental Health Group, and now Secretary (2023-2026) of the Environment and Epidemiology Assembly.  He also plays roles in the ERS Education and Scientific Councils.  He was the 2012-2015 Secretary, and 2015-2022 chair of the Scientific Committee on Respiratory Disorders of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH).  

Dr. de la Hoz received his medical degree from the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá, Colombia, Internal Medicine residency training at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Pulmonary Medicine at the University of British Columbia, and Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Yale University.

Description:

The award will be given to an individual who has made outstanding scientific and scholarly contributions to areas related to the TID mission. Awardees will be presented with a framed certificate at the ATS International Conference. Nominations of diverse candidates (by gender, race/ethnicity, country, area of focus and primary occupation) are highly encouraged.

Eligibility:

• Associate or full professor (5 or more years from reaching the associate professor level) or equivalent
• Outstanding contributions to research, education and/or training in areas broadly related to TID
• Nominees must be a TID member at the time of award (may join upon nomination)
• Nominations must include a cover letter (<2 pages) from an ATS member describing the candidate’s qualification and accomplishments and why the award is appropriate. Letters can be co-signed by more than one nominator. Self-nominations are allowable.
• Nominee's curriculum vitae must be included in the submission.
• Previous awardees are not eligible for the same award
• Applications will be reviewed by the TID Executive Committee with exclusion, as appropriate, of members who may have a conflict of interest.

Scoring Criteria:

Applications will be reviewed and scored based on the following criteria. Domains of excellence in research/teaching/mentoring and overall impact will receive greatest weight. Applications (cover letter and CV) should highlight the following domains:

• Excellence in research, teaching, or/and mentoring.
• Scholarly Contributions to Inhalational Disaster studies
• Leadership service (academia, industry, professional societies [both ATS and outside ATS])
• Participation in the TID Section (Administrative, Committees, Workshops, etc.)
• Overall impact/impression of dossier submitted for award application.

Note: Award nominations will be carried over for 3 years.