COPD Professorship Funding Crucial for Saskatchewan
The Lung Association of Saskatchewan is pleased to announce that $50,000 will be provided for the COPD professorship at the Department of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan. For the second year in a row, GlaxoSmithKline has contributed $25,000 toward the professorship.
COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - a term for a class of lung diseases, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, which make breathing very difficult.
COPD has the fastest growing death rate of any chronic disease in Canada. COPD is currently the fourth leading cause of death in men and kills more women than breast cancer. Within the next 10 to 15 years, COPD will become the third leading cause of death worldwide.
COPD is also a major cause of disability and is the second leading cause of hospitalization of seniors. An estimated 750,000 Canadians have COPD, resulting in yearly healthcare expenditures of $1.67 billion.
The Lung Association initiated the $50,000 per year COPD Professorship at the University of Saskatchewan in 2001. In 2004, GlaxoSmithKline Canada began partnering with the Lung Association by providing half of the COPD Professorship funding.
Dr. Darcy Marciniuk, from the Division of Respirology, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, has been the recipient of the COPD Professorship since its inception. Dr. Marciniuk is a leading COPD researcher in Canada, one of the authors of the Canadian guidelines for the treatment of COPD, and the architect of a new COPD rehabilitation strategy for Saskatchewan. The COPD professorship has played a key role in developing and maintaining COPD expertise in Saskatchewan.
The Lung Association of Saskatchewan is committed to improving the lung health of the residents of Saskatchewan. The Lung Association has been working for Canadians since 1900. As a non-profit, non-governmental organization, we rely on donations from the public to fund our activities to provide optimal care, management and prevention of lung diseases such as COPD, asthma, sleep apnea, lung cancer, and pneumonia.
