Andrew J. Halayko, PhD, FCAHS, ATSF, is Professor of Physiology and Pathophysiology, and Internal Medicine, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Lung Pathobiology and Treatment, and Associate Head-Research, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba. He is Interim co-CEO for Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM) and founded the Biology of Breathing Group in CHRIM in 2002. He has held continuous national research funding since 1999, leading or co-leading multiple large infrastructure awards, including a current Canada Foundation for Innovation project, AirSAFE, to create Canada’s premiere facility to generate traffic and wildfire pollution for controlled co-exposures in pre-clinical research models of human disease. He led development of a National Respiratory Research Strategy for the Canadian Lung Association, and ultimately the launch of the highly successful Canadian Respiratory Research Network.
Dr. Halayko was elected President of the Canadian Thoracic Society in 2016, only the 2nd PhD to hold this role, then served as Chair of the National Board of Directors for the Canadian Lung Association and was awarded the CLA Founders Award. Dr. Halayko leads an internationally recognized research program for asthma pathogenesis using in vitro and animal disease models for pre-clinical and translational projects. He has a 63 H-index, and 240 published articles that have been cited over 20,000 times. He supervised and mentored more than 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Dr. Halayko was awarded the Joseph Rodarte Award for Scientific Distinction by the ATS Respiratory Structure Function Assembly and is a member of the founding class for ATS Fellowship. He received one of Canada’s highest honors for health sciences, being named Fellow of the Canadian Academy for Health Sciences and received the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025. His active involvement in ATS began in 1997, joining the RSF Assembly Program Committee. Since then, he has served ATS continually as a member or leader at virtually all levels, including Program Chair and Chair for the RSF Assembly, ATS Board of Directors, ATS Nominating Committee, ATS Finance Committee, Chair of the ATS Awards Committee, and Chair of the ATS International Conference Committee during the COVID pandemic, thus overseeing new virtual conferences, and guiding return to in-person meetings. Dr. Halayko joined the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology as an Associate Editor in 2019, became Deputy Editor in 2021, and was appointed as Editor in Chief in 2023, a role he continues today.
Lynn B. Gerald, PhD, MSPH is Assistant Vice Chancellor for Population Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago and Professor of Medicine. She is an expert in pediatric asthma and has maintained continuous funding from NHLBI in school-based asthma interventions for 20 years. She was instrumental in working with collaborators to advocate for passage of legislation allowing stock inhalers for schools in the state of Arizona and was co-chair of a policy statement from the American Thoracic Society, National Association of School Nurses, American Lung Association, and the Asthma and Allergy Network which outlines best practices for ensuring access to albuterol in schools. Currently, she is working with states around the country to pass legislation and implement and evaluate stock inhaler programs.
She also has extensive experience in the areas of clinical, behavioral, and epidemiological research in respiratory medicine. She currently serves as PI of the American Lung Association Airways Clinical Research Center at the University of Illinois Chicago. She has also served as PI or Investigator on many NIH funded multi-center clinical trial networks including: Investigator for AsthmaNet; Investigator for the Lung Health Studies, Investigator for the COPD Clinical Research Network, and Investigator for the Precision Interventions for Severe and/or Exacerbation-Prone Asthma Network (PrecISE)
Dr. Gerald has held several leadership positions in the American Thoracic Society including serving on the Board of Directors, serving as Chair of the Behavioral Science and Health Services Research Assembly, Co-Chair of the Membership Committee, Co-Chair of the Research Advocacy Committee, member of the Finance Committee, Member of the Health Equity Committee and member of the Pediatric Health Policy Committee for ATS. Dr. Gerald has served as a member of the Clinical Trials Review Standing Study Section for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is also active in service at the local and state level. Her recent awards include the University Distinguished Outreach Professor at the University of Arizona, Respiratory Health Association, Lung Health Partners Award for Asthma, and the Senator Andy Nichols Award from the Arizona Public Health Association for outstanding contributions to public health.