Clinical Research and Quality Improvement NetWork News

Note from the NetWork Chair

As Chair of the Clinical Research and Quality Improvement NetWork, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your continued participation in our NetWork and in CHEST-sponsored, NetWork-related activities amidst this pandemic. Our NetWork has been very active at CHEST, with numerous submissions for the CHEST Annual Meeting, submission of CHEST Physician^®articles, attendance at the NetWork featured lecture and open forum meeting, and participation in other CHEST activities.

I also want to thank all the NetWork members who have expressed interest in serving on our NetWork Steering Committee. Whether you are a member of the steering committee or not, we welcome your input and would love to hear from you.

Joining a CHEST NetWork is a great way to become involved in CHEST, especially for fellows-in-training and junior faculty. With the inclusion of quality improvement (QI) in our NetWork’s name, we have attracted a broader audience with interest in QI initiatives and clinical research. In this issue, we are highlighting one of our fellow-in-training members, Aravind Menon, MD.

The CHEST COVID-19 Task Force is launching a new initiative titled, COVID in Focus: Perspectives on the Literature, which aims to highlight salient studies from peer-reviewed literature on COVID-19, with a short editorial commentary on the selected articles. If you are interested in participating in writing our NetWork's contribution to this series, please contact me. This is yet another great opportunity to get involved in the NetWork and to stay abreast with the current literature on this deadly pandemic.

CHEST Annual Meeting 2021 will be held in Orlando, Florida, October 17-20, both in person and online, and it’s your participation which makes the meeting a highly educational and fun endeavor. Be on the lookout for a Clinical Research and Quality Improvement NetWork lecture and business meeting at CHEST 2021.

I look forward to meeting you at CHEST 2021 this year, both virtually and in person.

Chitra Lal, MD, FCCP
Chair, Clinical Research and Quality Improvement NetWork

NetWork CHEST Physician article

Check out the Clinical Research and Quality Improvement NetWork’s latest article, “COVID-19 treatment, so far!,” by NetWork Steering Committee fellow-in-training, Ankita Agarwal, MD, and Steering Committee member, Muhammad Hayat Syed, MBBS, in the latest CHEST Physician issue.

Upcoming NetWork calls

As a NetWork member, you're welcome to join your NetWork Steering Committee calls. If interested in joining an upcoming call, please contact Katlyn Froslan at kfroslan@chestnet.org and she will be happy to share access information.

Tuesday, May 25, at 5 pm CT
Tuesday, September 21, at 5 pm CT

COVID-19 resources

Explore the COVID-19 Resource Center to find curated content to help you during the pandemic. Browse through clinical resources, sign up for the Clinician Matching Network, view recorded webinars, and more.

NetWork hashtag

Join the conversation: Have an idea or suggestion? See a good article link you want to share? Start tweeting with the hashtag: #CHESTResearch.

Get to know your leadership: Aravind Menon, MD

I have had the privilege of serving as a fellow-in-training member on the CHEST Clinical Research and Quality Improvement NetWork Steering Committee over the past year and a half. I graduated from Kasturba Medical College in India and moved to the US to pursue my interest in pulmonary and critical care medicine. After completing my residency in internal medicine at Boston University Medical Center (BUMC), I had the opportunity to serve as a chief resident at BUMC and the Quality Improvement (QI) Chief Resident at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Boston. Currently, I am in my third year of fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. I am looking forward to staying on for an additional year of research fellowship and pursuing a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in Clinical Epidemiology in the upcoming year. My clinical and research interests are focused on interstitial lung diseases and mechanisms of early fibrosis, but I am fascinated by the breadth of pathology that we come across in pulmonary medicine. My love for procedures has me working at the bedside on improving methods of pleural drainage and lung ultrasound in the ICU as well.

Since the beginning of my residency, I have been a CHEST member, and it was my fellowship director, Carolyn D’Ambrosio, MD, FCCP, who encouraged me to apply to the Clinical Research and Quality Improvement NetWork Steering Committee. I felt extremely fortunate to be selected to the committee, and I have learned so much in the short time that I have been a part of this family. As the COVID-19 pandemic started unraveling, we, as a group, recognized the need to summarize the enormous amounts of data coming out, which were at times conflicting. Under the leadership of Chitra Lal, MD, FCCP, and Mohsin Ijaz, MD, MBBS, FCCP, we planned and executed an online panel discussion as part of our business meeting for CHEST 2020. We focused on COVID-19 evidence-based therapies in addition to our regular contributions to CHEST Physician articles. Being part of the CHEST family, we often had the opportunity to check in with committee members in different parts of the country, hear about the innovations employed at different centers, and learn from each other’s experiences. This was a prime example of how close collaboration through CHEST helped my clinical practice in real time.

Outside of work, I like to spend my time exploring various cuisines and neighborhoods. 

Aravind Menon, MD
Steering Committee Fellow-in-Training

Also of interest

Learn from leading experts in chest medicine while earning CME credit/MOC points with CHEST 2020 Recorded Sessions. With on demand access, all the recorded sessions from CHEST 2020 featuring the latest in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine are available to you at any time.
CHEST is now seeking graders for CHEST Annual Meeting 2021. Get involved with CHEST 2021 by assessing and grading original investigations and case reports submitted for presentation. Sign up by April 30 to be considered.
Get your game on—visit the CHEST Player Hub for bite-sized learning opportunities at no cost.