American Lung Association

Research: for more than a century, the american lung association has driven lung health advancements and innovation by supporting medical research that is helping people with lung disease live longer, healthier lives. in fiscal year 2025, the american lung association research institute continued to fund high-impact, lifesaving research, bringing together the best scientific minds to address critical lung health challenges. our growing research investment - $225 million since 2000 - has made us one of the largest private funders of lung health research in the united states. in september, our research awards included 139 grants to promising and established scientists working on solutions and treatments for a broad range of lung health challenges, including the link between obesity and severe respiratory disease, the role of inflammation in pulmonary fibrosis, and new targeted lung cancer treatments. each year, our research investment also supports our airways clinical research centers network, the largest nonprofit clinical research network providing asthma and copd clinical trials at prominent academic medical centers, as well as innovative industry and nonprofit partnerships to accelerate discovery. this year, we provided a $200,000 american lung association research institute grant to texas biomedical research institute to study a universal, one-time vaccine. we also reached a critical milestone in our lung health cohort research study - recruiting nearly 3,000 participants for our pioneering project where we expect to follow healthy adults for approximately five years, with the goal of identifying risk factors for lung disease. in fiscal year 2025, we also continued to support and fund organizations committed to advancing research. in fiscal year 2025, this included sponsoring copd inet in boston - held for the first time in the united states - bringing together 100 scientists committed to advancing copd research from the laboratory to patient treatment and care.

Advocacy and environmental:each year, the american lung association supports policies and legislation that help everyone breathe easier. this includes advocating for laws that protect our children from deadly air pollution and tobacco products, and providing funding for critical lung disease research, healthcare coverage, and tobacco cessation, asthma and other vital health programs.in fiscal year 2025, we fought vigorously to preserve lifesaving federal funding for medicaid, along with tax credits and other programs providing coverage for more than 11 million individuals - all threatened under a proposed bill, which is now law. we also advocated against proposed cuts in program staff and spending that support lung health.our advocacy efforts helped to preserve healthcare coverage for preventative care, including lung cancer screening; the reintroduction of the soar act to provide equitable access to portable oxygen, allowing people to live more active lives; and a supreme court ruling in favor of the food and drug administration prohibiting tobacco companies from employing specific marketing strategies to promote certain e-cigarette products. in fiscal year 2025, we hosted two advocacy events. in addition to our annual lung force advocacy day in the spring, we held our second respiratory advocacy day in september. this event united dozens of individuals living with asthma, copd, pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and other lung diseases. they shared their stories and met with congressional representatives to advocate for the protection of healthcare coverage and increased funding for research and vital programs that support those affected by respiratory conditions. throughout the year, we also advocated for policies and programs - and the protection of staff and funding at the environmental protection agency - to improve the air we breathe. this included supporting legislation to limit mercury and other poisonous emissions from power plants and