The story of CHEST is intertwined with the history of TB.

Murray Kornfeld, the founder of the American College of Chest Physicians and the journal CHEST®, was a patient with TB who sought to advance education about the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The organization that would eventually become CHEST held its first educational event in 1935 to discuss TB-related challenges in sanatoriums. And it was a CHEST member, Edward Robitzek, MD, FCCP, who in 1951 began the first human tests of isoniazid, one of the first and most successful treatments for TB.

However, a vital chapter of this story was not widely known until last year.

In her 2023 book, The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis, researcher Maria Smilios revealed how Dr. Robitzek’s pioneering TB treatment would not have been possible without the efforts of a group of Black nurses at Sea View Hospital in New York City. These extraordinary women, who were referred to by their patients as the “Black Angels,” persevered against racial discrimination and other dire conditions to care for highly contagious patients at a time when no one else would.

CHEST is recognizing the Black Angels with an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP) designation during the CHEST 2024 Opening Session on Sunday, October 6, at 8 am ET. One of the last surviving nurses, Virginia Allen, will be in attendance to accept the honor on the group’s behalf. CHEST will display a curated archive of Dr. Robitzek’s handwritten clinical notes during Exhibit Hall hours.*

The multiple opportunities to engage with the Black Angels’ legacy at the meeting serve not only to enlighten CHEST members about the profession’s past but also to highlight lessons about diversity and inclusion that are relevant to chest medicine’s present and future, said Danielle McCamey, DNP, CRNP, ACNP-BC, FCCP, the founder and CEO of DNPs of Color and a member of CHEST’s Women in Chest Medicine Interest Group Steering Committee.

“All these pieces create this wonderful picture that aligns with our mission and the significance of our organization in history and in health care,” said Dr. McCamey, Assistant Dean at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. “It also really amplifies the interprofessional collaboration that’s needed to be able to do transformative work.”

Dr. McCamey moderated a CHEST webinar earlier this year that featured Allen, who recalled how the nursing opportunity at Sea View and Dr. Robitzek’s treatment of the nurses as colleagues set the stage for their further involvement in thoracic surgery and other pulmonary and critical care areas.

“I think that’s a testament to the energy that’s within CHEST,” Dr. McCamey said. “We, as an organization, are committed to inclusion and valuing all folks in our professional spaces so that they have an opportunity to contribute their expertise from their particular experiences.”

Dr. McCamey said she’s excited for CHEST 2024 attendees to view Dr. Robitzek’s archives in person at the meeting.

“When we get the opportunity to see those notes, it’s essentially tapping into history and seeing the thought process behind that—whether it be imperfect or perfect,” she said. “That’s empowering to see the process because people are always wanting to know how to get from step A to step Z. It’s the opportunity to see the magic.”

CHEST 2024 attendees can get a copy of the Black Angels book at the Experience CHEST booth in the Exhibit Hall. CHEST 2024 Scientific Program Committee Chair, Gabriel T. Bosslet, MD, FCCP, said even readers who are familiar with the history of TB will likely be surprised by the book’s passages about the human side of the disease—not only the experiences of the Black Angels but also the people under their care.

“It was new to me, and I feel like someone who’s relatively well-informed about the history of TB and the care of those patients,” Dr. Bosslet said. “The book does a terrific job of telling the stories—stories of patients who, in the 1930s and 40s, had this terrible, ravaging disease—and paints a picture that’s different than what most physicians know, which are the facts and figures and pathophysiology.”

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*Due to the recent damage caused by Hurricane Helene, transportation of these documents to the CHEST Annual Meeting may not be possible.

(Photo of Virginia Allen by Richard Ricciardi)