R espiratory disease is ubiquitous and does not take on a single form or affect a select population.The burden of respiratory disease is experienced all over the world, by young and old.If we expect to have an impact on respiratory health, we cannot go it alone -and we don't.The Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS) has a wide range of partnerships that enables it to maximize its impact in strategic areas (research, education, guidelines and knowledge translation).In addition to collaborating with the Canadian Lung Association, the Canadian Respiratory Health Professionals, the Canadian COPD Alliance, and provincial lung associations and thoracic societies, the CTS works with a wide range of stakeholders and organizations, in Canada and abroad.Only a few years ago, we welcomed a national group of pediatric respirologists who formed a pediatric assembly (PA) within the CTS.Since then, we've been working on integrating their perspective by appointing pediatric respirologists to many of our committees, creating a pediatric track as part of the Canadian Respiratory Conference (CRC) and including the PA chair (currently Dr Hans Pasterkamp) in our meetings with American Thoracic Society (ATS) leaders.We collaborate a great deal with our counterparts in the United States and Europe.We meet regularly with American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), the ATS and European Respiratory Society leaders to exchange information on a wide range of respiratory issues and to plan our collaboration on specific initiatives.Current joint projects include the following: North American collaboration on World Spirometry Day; the development of joint guidelines on acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with the ACCP; the delivery of our annual CTS Scientific Program in conjunction with the ACCP CHEST Conference; our collaboration on scientific presentations at conferences such at the CRC and the World Asthma Congress; the delivery of the CTS Research Poster Competition as part of the ATS's annual international conference; and the CTS/ European Respiratory Society Peter Macklem Fellowship exchange program.We will also soon celebrate the inauguration of our own Darcy Marciniuk, a former CTS president, as ACCP president -that is quite a testament to our collaboration on the North American stage!We are also actively involved in global initiatives such as the Guidelines International Network and the Global Alliance Against Respiratory Disease.We have been well represented there by senior CTS leaders including Louis-Philippe Boulet, Chair of the Canadian Respiratory Guidelines Network.Our partnerships extend all the way to our Journal.Thanks to the leadership of Peter Paré, Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Respiratory Journal, we are developing memoranda of understanding with the Canadian Critical Care Society and the Canadian Sleep Society.Through these agreements, we aim to address a wider range of clinical and research issues in the Journal and, thus, enhance the content and readership of the Canadian Respiratory Journal.Last, but certainly not least, are the partnerships we are nurturing through the National Respiratory Research Strategy (NRRS).Our Faculties of Medicine and division directors from across the country, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research -Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, and AllerGen have been some of the key
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