Clarice Tang

It is my absolute pleasure and honour to be given an opportunity to present and attend the 2019 APSR-ISRD joint session at the prestigious American Thoracic Society international conference in Dallas this May. This has been a memorable conference with lots of "first" memories. It was not only my first attendance at an international conference but also my first international award presenting my first post PhD research. My research was selected for an oral presentation by the pulmonary rehabilitation assembly. The title of my presentation was 'Does an immediate commencement of pulmonary rehabilitation following hospitalisation for an exacerbation of COPD positively impact attendance and completion rates: A pilot randomised controlled trial.' The results of my research shown that patients who commenced pulmonary rehabilitation at the time of hospital commencement were almost 6 times as likely to attend pulmonary rehabilitation as compared to people who commenced pulmonary rehabilitation 8 weeks after initial hospital discharge (OR=5.7, P=0.02), indicating that timing of commencement indeed positively influences attendance to this highly efficacious intervention.

My research was very well received by both respiratory physicians and health professionals, with many questions being asked and others approaching me following the conclusion of my presentation. It also provided me with opportunities to network with other health professionals, physicians and researchers from not only Australia but also different parts of the world. This has in return opened doors to future collaborations with very experienced people in the field, facilitating the progression of my career as a researcher.

In addition to my presentation, the conference has given me the opportunity to review other interesting thematic and discussion posters and oral presentations outside my field. Through this, I have gained useful knowledge of the advances in science and medicine for people with chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Furthermore, the opportunity to meet experts in the field such as Professor Kwun M Fong, Professor Yoichi Nakanishi and Professor Chunxue Bai has been extremely rewarding. I have been blown away by the amount of support and how welcomed I felt throughout this conference. This has deeply inspired me to embark on my next project to further my research.

I would hereby like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the APSR committee for providing me with this invaluable opportunity to present at the conference and acknowledged my research with this APSR travel award. I had a great time both presenting and attending this amazing conference. Rest assured that I will be back for the ATS 2020 International Conference.