The Turkish Thoracic Society is a non-profit, national professional and scientific organization of the specialists in respiratory medicine. The aim of the Society is to provide the most effective scientific methods for prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases and to increase national respiratory health through patient care, research, education and promoting national policies.

Shortly after its foundation by the physicians specialized in respiratory medicine and physicians in subspecialties of lung health in 1992, the Society has opened 10 branches in different geographical regions of the country (İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Adana, Konya, Bursa, Eskiflehir, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Samsun), has formed scientific work groups in 14 different fields. The Turkish Thoracic Society, in the 11th year of its foundation, with 1500 members, is the largest specialty organization in respiratory health in Turkey.

The Turkish Thoracic Society has made extensive contributions in the establishment of the Turkish Board of Pneumology in order to improve the level of specialty training and has hosted the Board meetings. The second meeting of the Turkish Board of Pneumology and the Second Board Examination will take place during the 6th Annual Congress.

The Turkish Thoracic Society informs its members on the latest developments in respiratory medicine by organizing annual congresses, thus enabling the exchange of views by the participation of the foreign speakers as well as physicians from various related fields. While the number of members participating in the 1st Annual Congress in 1995 was 424, and the number of papers presented was 330; 1740 participants joined and 731 papers were presented in the 5t h Annual Congress. We are expecting approximately 2000 participants and 800 papers to be presented in the 6th Congress.

The Turkish Thoracic Society School has implemented a “Winter School” program for the continuous postgraduate medical education of its members. The first “Winter School” was held in Adana in 2002, between January 24 and 26, with the participation of 148 members and consisted of lectures on recent advances in various fields of respiratory medicine. This program which is free of charge for the members, is intended to be improved and continued in forthcoming years. The Second Winter School will be held on January 22-26, 2003 in Konya.

The Turkish Thoracic Society, in view of the future developments in respiratory diseases, is implementing courses in order to increase the size of well educated work force. The first of these courses was held in February-March 2002 on the topics of lung function tests, mechanical ventilation and sleep related disorders. Fifty national members from various universities and training hospitals have joined these theoretical and practical courses for a month. The number of courses will be increased during the 2002 to 2003 period.

The Turkish Thoracic Society has planned ‘Fall Seminars’ to be held in the next years. This year’s topics will be COPD and Tuberculosis. Latest developments on the relevant subjects will be extensively discussed for two days with the participation of scientists from abroad.

Most of the branches of the Turkish Thoracic Society organize training meetings monthly and prepare local training programs for their members throughout the year. Scientific study groups actively support these programs. Primary care physicians and physicians of various other specialties take part in these meetings.

The Turkish Thoracic Society has 4 official publications which are published regularly: "Toraks Bülteni", "Toraks Dergisi", “Turkish Respiratory Journal ” , and "Toraks Kitapları " .

Toraks Bülteni(Thorax Bulletin), aims to facilitate the communication among members, covers the latest news, and information concerning the activities of the Society, and is published quarterly.

Toraks Dergisi(Thorax Journal) includes original articles, case reports and reviews, and aims to inform the members on recent developments in the field of respiratory diseases and is published as 3 issues annually.

Turkish Respiratory Journal , is published in English, covering original articles, case reports, and reviews, published as 3 issues annually.

Toraks Kitapları(Thorax Book Series) are books on recent developments in clinical practice, each book covering a different topic. Two books are published annually.

The publication of Toraks Derneği Eğitim Kitapları Serisi(TTS Educational Book Series) will be started in the coming days. These educational book series consist of patient booklets and pocket guides for the general practitioners.

The Turkish Thoracic Society, in line with its goals, has established 14 different scientific work groups in order to exchange views and information among its members: Asthma, COPD, Lower Respiratory Tract Infections, Tuberculosis, Pulmonary and Pleural Malignancies, Tobacco and Health, Respiratory Failure and Intensive Care, Respiratory Sleep Disorders, Lung Pathology, Thoracic Surgery, Pediatric Lung Diseases, Environmental and Occupational Lung Diseases, Clinical Problems and Diagnostic Methods. Work groups meet at least three times a year to plan training programs, carry out multicentered studies, develop diagnostic and therapeutic standards, and contribute to national policies on relevant subjects.

The Turkish Thoracic Society, in order to encourage scientific researches gives financial support to its members for publishing their articles in foreign scientific journals, for their oral presentations abroad and in the congresses held by the Thorax Society, and for the research projects recommended by its members and other work groups, which would contribute to the national lung health. All the national members can apply for the Turkish Thoracic Society Research Awards, the Turkish Thoracic Society Project Awards, and supporting grants for participating in international congresses. The Society gives 200 grants to its members for participating in the annual congress. Especially the members making presentations benefit from these grants covering all the expenses except transportation.

The Turkish Thoracic Society endeavors to attain patient care services (prevention, diagnosis, and treatment) of the highest quality in the field of respiratory diseases. Work groups have prepared diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines on asthma, pneumonia and COPD, and presented these guidelines to our members and 25 000 physicians throughout the country. Manuals for primary care physicians and booklets for patients will be published in the near future. The members, and primary care physicians have been trained regarding these guidelines. In order to find solutions to the problems specific to lung diseases in our country, several task forces have been formed and supported other than these work groups.

In addition to its scientific and educational activities, the improvement of the population’s lung health is one of the main goals of the Turkish Thoracic Society. For this purpose, the Society makes all the efforts in order to determine the problems regarding lung health in our country, publishes diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines and organizes national control programs to contribute to the solutions of these problems. The Society undertakes community-based intensive activities and works in close collaboration with state authorities, Ministry of Health, members of the parliament and other NGOs in order to realize the preset national policies. The Society’s attempts for the restriction of tobacco use and its products, for the improvement in the tuberculosis control and for the foundation of the patient associations, are only a few of these activities. The Turkish Thoracic Society considers the activities like ‘Tuberculosis Week’, ‘World Asthma Day’, ‘World COPD Days’, and ‘31s t of May - No Tobacco Day’ as of utmost importance for creating awareness in the public and among health care workers. During the 4th Annual Congress of the Thorax Society in Izmir, May 31, 2001, the rally for a non-smoking world, and during the 5t h Congress in Antalya, the remembrance ceremony for those who lost their lives due to smoking are some of the interesting activities.

In order to gather all the institutions concerning lung health in one organization, the Society is planning to form the "National Lung Health Initiative". Additionally, the Society intends to establish a mediaoffice with the purpose of keeping the public informed and aware on the lung health issues.

The Turkish Thoracic Society is aware of the fact that the causes and the solutions of the national lung health problems have to be considered on a global scale. Therefore, to improve lung health globally, it cooperates with regional and global organizations functioning in the field of respiratory diseases.

The 6th Annual Congress of the Turkish Thoracic Society will be a meeting place for three international respiratory societies (American Thoracic Society, European Respiratory Society, and International Society Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases), the chairmen of the Thoracic Societies of the 29 countries in the region, and where more than 200 researchers from these countries will make presentations. So, with all these participants this will be a regional congress. In this congress, regional and global problems related to lung health and close cooperation of occupational organizations will be discussed and solutions will be sought.