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The 2nd North American Bronchiectasis and NTM Conference Patient Education Program will take place on December 1, 2025, and it is completely free to attend.  You can join in person at NYU Langone Health or participate virtually from anywhere. Many of our favorite bronchiectasis and NTM experts will be speaking, along with new voices who are helping shape the future of care, research, and patient support. This annual event brings together leading clinicians, researchers, advocates, and patients for a full day of learning, connection, and practical guidance. Whether you are newly diagnosed or have been living with bronchiectasis or NTM for years, this conference offers valuable insights into clinical care, airway clearance, inflammation, genetics, environmental factors, and the latest research discoveries. Why You Should AttendThis program delivers high quality education covering topics such as clinical care networks, international data, global advocacy, NTM epidemiology, genetics, airway inflammation, guideline updates, and emerging clinical trials. You will hear directly from respected leaders in the field, including:
Dedicated question and answer sessions give attendees the chance to hear expert perspectives on the issues that matter most. Registration DetailsSign up now to hold your spot: .nyulangone.org/care-services/bronchiectasis-ntm-program/ntm-patient-education-program Interested in attending the professional conference virtually? ($399) Contact Marla Hymes at [email protected] 212 263 5183 Agenda for December 1, 20259:30 AM Registration 10:00 AM Opening Remarks – Doreen Addrizzo Harris, MD 10:05 AM US Clinical Care Networks – Doreen Addrizzo Harris, MD 10:15 AM Canadian Database and Updates – Ted Marras, MD, MSc 10:30 AM Updates from Latin America – Marcela Munoz, MD 10:45 AM Global Awareness and Advocacy Initiatives – Timothy Aksamit, MD 11:00 AM Epidemiology and The Environment with NTM – David Kamelhar, MD 11:15 AM Question and Answer 11:35 AM Break and Lunch 12:15 PM Genetics in Bronchiectasis – Kenneth Olivier, MD, MPH 12:30 PM Inflammation in Bronchiectasis – Anne O’Donnell, MD 12:45 PM Guideline Updates – Ashwin Basavaraj, MD 1:00 PM NTM Updates – Shannon Kasperbauer, MD 1:15 PM Clinical Trial Update and Future Research Directions – Charles Daley, MD 1:30 PM Question and Answer 1:50 PM Closing Remarks – David Kamelhar, MD Need to Make Changes to Your Registration?Contact Marla Hymes at
[email protected] 212 263 5183 Reach out if:
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 Two days at the First North American Bronchiectasis and NTM Conference!!
What a whirlwind! Two days filled with networking, smiles and a buzz of cooperation in the air. The biggest takeaway: progress is happening! While there are still no U.S. guidelines for bronchiectasis, we’re hopeful they’ll be released in the first quarter of 2025. Even more exciting, there will be Standards of Care established for the 150 designated care centers across the U.S. These guidelines will outline best practices, empowering us to advocate for proper care — whether it’s securing necessary nebulizing equipment or appropriate testing for swallowing and reflux. One promising development on the horizon: a potential blood test for NTM in the next few years. This could eliminate the stress of producing sputum samples — a huge relief for many of us! Though Dr. Chalmers (aka Dr. Bronchiectasis❤️) was in high demand, we managed to squeeze in a few moments for some fun social media pics. Helga from NTM Info & Research was also there, warmly welcoming everyone as they explored the booths featuring vest companies, Monaghan Medical, the Bronchiectasis and NTM Association, Insmed, Mannkind and other pharmaceutical companies working on treatments for BE and NTM. It was inspiring to see clinicians, industry leaders, pharma companies and people living with bronchiectasis all coming together with a shared purpose. Progress is being made and the future looks brighter! Today I’m focusing on self-care, including my annual physical. Then I’ll be heading to a luncheon sponsored by National Jewish Health. Dr. Chuck Daley (aka Dr. NTM❤️) will be our guest speaker. I’ll be reporting back!!!  I wanted nothing more than to go to Scotland this past July for the World Bronchiectasis Conference. Unfortunately, it conflicted with my family reunion, so I relied on Judy Schloss, the clinical manager at Monaghan Medical, to send me photos. More than anything, I wanted to visit my hero, Dr. James Chalmers’ laboratory. For me, it would’ve been like seeing the Batcave! You might think I’m exaggerating, but Dr. Chalmers (aka Dr. Bronchiectasis) actually led a proof-of-concept trial called BATMAN (Bronchiectasis Alpha-1 Augmentation Trial). Dr. Chalmers has been our advocate from the very beginning. Even when he was told that bronchiectasis research was a dead end, he persisted. In a recent video, he shared this powerful message: “The greatest unmet need for bronchiectasis, from my point of view as a clinician caring for these patients, is to have better, more effective treatments for the disease. Unfortunately, around 50% of patients with bronchiectasis, according to registry data, experience two or more exacerbations per year. The quality of life of our patients and their symptoms, the scores that they get on questionnaires, show that the impairment caused by this disease is as bad or worse than other respiratory conditions like COPD, asthma, or cystic fibrosis. So, patients are really suffering with frequent exacerbations and bad symptoms, but there are not enough effective treatments that patients can use. Most patients are reliant on physiotherapy and antibiotics, which relieve some of the symptoms but don’t modify the course of the disease and don’t prevent these exacerbations or improve these symptoms. So we urgently need better treatments, and that means that we need investment into clinical trials and also into translational science in order to understand the disease better, find better treatment targets, and help us to develop those new therapies.” In the fight against bronchiectasis, Dr. Chalmers reminds us that real superheroes don’t wear capes—they wear lab coats. |
AuthorLinda Cooper Esposito, MPH is a health educator with bronchiectasis. She developed the BE CLEAR Method to Living with Bronchiectasis and writes with compassion and humor about this chronic lung disease. Archives
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