Miranda Ween

I recently had the opportunity to do a round the world trip, talking about my research into E-cigarettes. I started in at UT Austin, and then went onto Dallas for ATS 2019. This started off with the APRS/ISRD joint session before the main ATS meeting began. This work showcased up and coming researchers from the APRS and ISRD and I had the privilege to meet not only with like-minded peers, but also the president of the APSR, Kwung Fong, and other senior members of research labs from the Asia-Pacific region and to talk about my work.

The ATS 2019 main meeting then took place and was an incredible conference. There was almost an entire solid day of E-cigarette sessions, which does not happen at any other meeting, ensuring I remain up to date with current research and trends, as well as continuing to network with other E-cigarette researchers. My session on E-cigarette research went extremely well with all of us summarising our research in just 60 seconds in a rapid fire presentation round! There was a lot of interest in my work, and E-cigarettes in general, which continue to become more and more popular. The rest of ATS2019 was spent dashing madly from one end of the conference centre to the other to try to get to talks and posters on a range of interesting subjects, including macrophages, sphingosine, and lung infections.

I then went and visited UT Dallas to meet with respiratory researchers who did not attend the ATS, and then finished my travels with a visit to Queens University, Belfast where I presented my work and met with potential collaborators.

Overall, the trip was exhausting, but very educational and beneficial to helping me begin to establish myself as an independent researcher.