# ARDS in the 21st Century: New Insights into Clinical and Mechanistic Heterogeneity

> **NIH NIH R13** · NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH · 2020 · $30,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), first described by Dr. Thomas L. Petty and colleagues in
1967, today accounts for 10% of all ICU admissions worldwide, with an associated 35% mortality. Despite
substantial efforts to investigate ARDS pathogenesis, there remains no known mechanism-targeted therapy
that meaningfully improves patient outcomes. There is emerging recognition that the failure of ARDS clinical
trials could reflect a false homogenization of ARDS as a single disease entity. ARDS represents a common
syndrome resulting from numerous, heterogenous, and often independent disease processes. Accordingly, a
single study drug, if uniformly applied to all ARDS patients regardless of underlying disease pathophysiology,
would likely fail to consistently improve patient outcomes. For our field to overcome this obstacle, a new
appreciation of ARDS mechanistic and phenotypic heterogeneity is required, enabling future precision
medicine approaches to the recognition and treatment of lung injury. The 2020 Thomas L. Petty Aspen Lung
Conference, entitled ARDS in the 21st Century: New Insights Into Clinical and Mechanistic Heterogeneity, will
gather thought leaders in the field of acute lung injury to address the impact of ARDS heterogeneity, with a
focus on (1) understanding the presence and therapeutic significance of ARDS mechanistic and phenotypic
subtypes, (2) exploring multi-cellular and multi-systemic mechanisms responsible for this heterogeneity, and
(3) determining how to best account for disease heterogeneity during clinical trial design and outcome
assessment. We have identified 12 outstanding thought leaders to present State of the Art lectures (35 min)
on these topics. Each presentation will be followed by 25 min of lively discussion and debate—a hallmark of
this Conference. Our program continues the Aspen Lung Conference’s dedication to inclusiveness: 54% of
State of the Art speakers are female, and we now provide 3 Travel Awards for underrepresented minorities.
Participation of trainees and junior faculty is facilitated by the having two 15-minute oral abstracts, selected
from submitted abstracts, following each State of the Art speaker (24 total). There will be two evening poster
sessions for further presentation opportunities by junior faculty and trainees. The final presentation is provided
by a Conference Summarizer, who reviews the impact and common themes of the entire Conference. The
Conference Summary will be subsequently published for widespread dissemination, allowing the Aspen Lung
Conference to serve as a “think tank” that not only summarizes the current state of the field, but also identifies
key future directions for basic, translation and clinical research in ARDS. Finally, and notably, registration for
the Aspen Lung Conference is free, encouraging participation from a wide spectrum of trainees and early
career investigators.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9991597
- **Project number:** 1R13HL152479-01
- **Recipient organization:** NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** David W. Riches
- **Activity code:** R13 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $30,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2021-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9991597

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9991597, ARDS in the 21st Century: New Insights into Clinical and Mechanistic Heterogeneity (1R13HL152479-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9991597. Licensed CC0.

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