Ai “Anna” Lam, MD, who graduated from the College with an undergraduate degree in biology in 1996, is the recipient of an American Thoracic Society (ATS) Foundation/Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago Research Grant.
Lam is currently an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
The grant provides $40,000 in funding per year for two years, and will be used to study the cell signaling process in patients with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease in which tissue deep in a patient’s lungs becomes thick and stiff, or scarred, over time.
Since 2004, the ATS Foundation has awarded nearly $10 million in grants to 105 junior researchers investigating a wide spectrum of lung diseases, including asthma and pulmonary fibrosis. Grants range from $80,000 to $100,000 over a two-year period.
The ATS Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Thoracic Society, whose mission is to improve health worldwide by advancing research, clinical care and public health in respiratory disease, critical illness and sleep disorders.
The Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHAMC) has been a local public health leader since 1906. Today, the association fights lung disease and supports healthy lungs by supporting research, advocacy and educational efforts on behalf of individuals and families affected by various lung diseases.
