CHEST to Offer Compelling Panels on Lung, Heart Health at Upcoming Conference

The windy city of Chicago, Illinois, is set to host the CHEST: American College of Chest Physicians Annual Meeting from October 19 to October 22, 2025, highlighting innovative research and discussions surrounding pulmonary and critical care specialties. The conference will feature multiple sessions concerning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, the use of glucagon-like peptide 1 inhibitors to address issues in sleep medicine, and late-breaking abstracts in its 4-day schedule.

Chicago is set to host the CHEST annual meeting starting on October 19 | Image credit: SeanPavonePhoto - stock.adobe.com

The main conference events kick off on October 19, with the keynote address coming from inspirational speaker Sean Swarner, who has 1 functioning lung after 2 bouts with cancer. The power of pulmonary medicine, allowing those with lower lung function to lead normal lives, highlights the reason that many of the doctors practice: to improve the prognosis for those with major pulmonary challenges. After this demonstration of what progress in pulmonary medicine can do for the average person, the core of the conference will get underway.

New coverage guidelines will be debated on Monday morning, specifically on noninvasive ventilation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The panel aims to review the National Coverage Determination guidelines, identify challenges that will arise due to the guidelines, and discuss how to implement the guidelines into practice.

AI is a topic of conversation at multiple panels, including at the opening session on Tuesday, October 21, where the use of AI will be discussed in both pulmonary and critical care medicine. Experts on the panel plan to highlight 3 AI applications that are affecting medicine in the pulmonary, critical care, and sleep specialties and teach the audience how to use these AI tools to help documentation and clinical decisions. Ethical challenges and implementation pitfalls of AI will also be covered as the practical use of AI is questioned.

Also on Tuesday, the conference will focus on the past, present, and future of respiratory vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines, influenza, and pneumococcal disease vaccines have previously been shown to be helpful in avoiding unnecessary death due to these viruses, and the future development of vaccines in this space could further reduce morbidity in vulnerable populations. The goal of the panel, according to the description, is to “encourage[e] pulmonary and critical care clinicians to continue their work as advocates of vaccination” by going over current science and recommendations for respiratory vaccines.

The conference’s Wednesday events kick off with a panel about the new federal policies in the US that have changed the priorities affecting multiple areas of health. The National Medical Association will be offering insight into what these changes mean for medical education and research across the country, including highlighting both legislation and executive orders that affect health care and discussing methods of reducing the harm that could come from these actions. Aaron Baugh, MD, and Marilyn Foreman, MD, MS, of UCSF Department of Medicine and Indiana University School of Medicine, respectively, will be the moderators for this panel.

The conference is set to conclude on October 22. After 4 full days of panels, discussions, and abstract presentations, CHEST will draw to a close on Wednesday evening, after providing pulmonologists and other specialists across the country with updated research, information, and guidelines to better serve their patients when they return to their practices.