NHLBI Staff Recognized for Efforts Against COPD

Dr. Stephen Rennard (l) presents the 2017 John W. Walsh Award to Dr. Antonello Punturieri.

Four members of the NHLBI Division of Lung Diseases were presented with the John W. Walsh Award at the COPD10USA conference in Chicago recently. 

The inaugural award was established by the COPD Conferences (UK and USA) to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

NHLBI awardees Dr. Thomas Croxton, Dr. James Kiley, Dr. Lisa Postow and Dr. Antonello Punturieri were commended for work over many years that has advanced the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of COPD. The award was presented by Dr. Stephen Rennard, a professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Nebraska.

“We are grateful to NHLBI’s Division of Lung Diseases for its efforts in affirming the critical importance of the partnership between the scientific, clinical and patient community,” said Dr. Byron Thomashow, chairman of the board of the COPD Foundation.

The award was named for John W. Walsh, a patient advocate who founded the COPD Foundation in 2004. He passed away in March 2017. The biennial COPD10USA conference is designed to foster communication and interaction among people with COPD, researchers and health care providers.