The Irish Thoracic Society is the national organisation representing respiratory healthcare professionals throughout Ireland. The society is dedicated to championing excellence in the prevention, diagnosis, and clinical care of respiratory disease through its work in advocacy, education and research.
It aims to influence national policy and services to help reduce the health and economic burden of lung disease, and to ensure equitable access to the best standards of respiratory care across the country. Further, it aims to work in a spirit of partnership and collaboration with all those who share our vision including patient organisations, government, the HSE, industry and academia.
- Registered Charity Number: CHY 17510
- Charity Regulator Number: 20065294
- Company Registration Number: 462103
A History of the Irish Thoracic Society
The Irish Thoracic Society was formed in 1980 when its immediate predecessor organisation, the Irish Tuberculosis & Thoracic Society (ITTS), founded around 1960, decided on a new constitution and name change. The ITTS, in turn, had been directly preceded by the Irish Tuberculosis Society, set up in 1946, which similarly adopted a new constitution leading to a change of title. These successive title changes reflected the decline in the prevalence of TB following the introduction of effective chemotherapy, as well as rapidly expanding scientific understanding of the importance of asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disorders, lung cancer, non-tuberculous lung infections and environmental and occupational lung disease.
With an unbroken succession over many years, the Irish Thoracic Society (ITS) is one of the oldest – if not the oldest – medical subspecialty organisations in Ireland. The history of our society from 1946 – 2019 has been published and a digital version can be downloaded.