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To Be Among the Best
Most of us juggle more roles than we care to count.
In any given week, I serve as the Coordinator of ERN-LUNG. I am also a physician caring for my patients, a manager overseeing several projects — some small, some rather large — and I am head of a dedicated group of doctors trying to solve the puzzles of patients whose diseases remain undiagnosed. And there are, inevitably, many other responsibilities that come with the territory.
Some of these roles I chose. Others simply arrive — and prove difficult to decline.
One of the less appealing tasks is preparing medical expert reports for courts or health authorities. It is the kind of assignment that appears every so often and demands attention whether one welcomes it or not.
This week was one of those times.
I was asked to submit an expert opinion on aspects of new treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). You might argue — as I did — that this subject is not exactly my area of expertise. That argument, however, did not carry much weight. The report still had to be written.
So I began reading.
And almost immediately I encountered a familiar name: Humbert et al., 2022. Marc Humbert — Vice Coordinator of ERN-LUNG and Core Network Lead — appears prominently in the field, including as a lead author of the 2022 ESC/ERS guidelines endorsed by ERN-LUNG.
As I continued through the literature to be cited in my report, something became increasingly clear. Again and again, the authors were colleagues actively involved in ERN-LUNG.
The realization was striking: The leading experts in this field are part of our network.
That is my first point.
The second is that this is not unique to pulmonary hypertension. Across many areas of rare respiratory diseases, the same pattern emerges. The European experts — the people shaping research, defining standards and writing the key publications — are the very people who make up ERN-LUNG.
In other words, each of us is working within a network that includes some of the best specialists in the world.
Yet it is easy to overlook that fact. Most days we are simply trying to keep many professional balls in the air at once.
But when we meet in Paris later this month, take a moment to look around. The people in that room will include many of those whose work defines the field of rare respiratory diseases.
I am proud to be part of this network.
And I look forward to seeing you there. |
