Asia is the largest of all seven continents making up for more than half of the world’s population.
Although there are diversities in customs, lifestyles, religions and languages, respiratory related
illnesses in children are the major burden in all Asian countries. As paediatric pulmonologists, we are
responsible for improving the care of respiratory diseases so that the morbidities and mortalities
caused by these diseases are reduced.
Fortunately, a group of paediatric pulmonologists in Asia with the same inspiration have met and
agreed to establish the Asian Paediatric Pulmonology Society (APPS) in 2014. Since then we have
run annual congresses of APPS regularly till the most recent successful 8th APPS annual scientific
congress in Padang, Indonesia in 2023. It has been my great honor to be elected as the 5th President
following Dr. Daniel Ng (Hong Kong), Professor Kun-ling Shen (China), Professor Varinder Singh
(India) and Professor Ann Goh (Singapore). I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all former
presidents and executive committees for supporting myself and all academic activities for almost 10
years. We are planning to strengthen and enhance the recognition and visibility of our APPS official
journal named the Pediatric Respirology and Critical Care Medicine (PRCCM), of which Dr. Daniel Ng
is one of the editors, Hong Kong Society of Paediatric Respirology and Allergy (HKSPRA) and Taiwan
Society of Pediatric Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine (TSPPCCM) are another two co-
hosts. This journal needs your support by submitting the good-quality-research manuscripts, case
reports or review articles as well as citing the papers published in our journal.
In 2024, APPS have launched another academic activity called “APPS Grand Round”. What we
experienced during Covid19 pandemic made us all realize that the scientific knowledge can be
learned effectively via online platform. After the congress in Padang, Indonesia, APPS committees
gave consensus to set up this new activity based on voluntary basis. It will be an online monthly
programme organized and taken turns among the member countries on the last Friday of the month. I
have been most grateful for the cooperation and support from APPS friends to make it possible. The
host country provides one presenter and a moderator and invites 2 – 3 panelists who are the experts
of that field discussing and raising the important points to learn. The APPS Grand Round will allow
paediatric pulmonologists across Asian continent to interact with each other, share knowledge,
experience and resources, which hopefully will bring sustainable friendship and achieve mutual
benefits for all countries.
Another important task is to create our Asian Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) on Pulmonary
Tuberculosis, of which Professor Varinder Singh kindly accepted to be the leader. Tuberculosis, as we
know, is relatively much more common in Asia. So, it would be better if we could create our own CPG
by our experts in Asia.
Thank you for your interest in APPS. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact me
at [email protected]. It would be my pleasure to receive your advice to make a progress
of APPS in the future.
Professor Aroonwan Preutthipan
President (2024 – 2026)
The Asian Paediatric Pulmonology Society has come a long way from the humble beginnings of a meeting of friends and colleagues with a similar vision to improve the knowledge of paediatric pulmonology across the region in Asia. The Asian Paediatric Pulmonology Society was founded in 2014 and has grown in numbers with representatives now from almost every country in Asia. This has been possible through the able leadership of the Founder President, Dr. Daniel Ng, and the subsequent Presidents, Professor Shen Kun-ling and Professor Varinder Singh.
It is an honour for me to be elected as the current President and I hope to strengthen the ties between colleagues within the region. I’d like to thank our Taiwan colleagues for hosting the 7th APPS Annual Congress in 2021 and for the Philippines who will be hosting the 8th APPS Annual Congress this year in 2022. These annual meetings serve to bring together paediatric pulmonologists from the region to share their experiences and knowledge. I hope too to organize more training courses on flexible bronchoscopy and possibly also on pulmonary function testing in countries where this may not be so easily available. The pandemic has put a stop to many of our activities but hopefully with the easing of restrictions, we will be able to resume some of these activities in the near future.
I’d also like to strongly encourage all member countries to publish your research in the Paediatric Respirology and Critical Care Medicine Journal which is the official journal of APPS. This is our journal and do support it by submitting your research work and articles to it.
APPS has also collaborated with ERS to organize the pHERMEs exam in Asia. This is to help us benchmark ourselves against the paediatric pulmonologists in Europe and I strongly encourage all members especially junior members to participate in the exam so that it allows you to know how you stand in relation to your counterparts in Europe. One of our aims is to continually improve our standards of care in Asia.
I look forward to working closely with many of you whom I have known well through the years to advance the vision and mission of APPS during my term. Thank you for your support.
Dr. Anne Goh
President (2022 – 2024)
Ever since the initial meeting organized by Professor Aroonwan Preutthipan and Dr. Rina Triasih back in 2012, and the leadership by the Founding President, Dr. Danial Ng, APPS has grown into one of the most influential and professional medical organizations in the specialty area of paediatric pulmonology in Asia. It is my honor to serve as the President after the above mentioned reputable and accomplished individuals.
On this website, you will find the history, membership, publications, continuing medical education, and other useful information, which can help enhance your professional capacity. It is my strong belief that quality healthcare for children can be improved by solid research, evidence-based approach in providing care, and outstanding clinical learning.
One of my important tasks as APPS President is to host the 4th APPS Annual Scientific Congress in Beijing, China on 7 – 9 December 2018. I would like to extend my invitation to all of you to come to Beijing to share your research, your service with the greater audience from all over Asia. Please encourage your colleagues to submit abstracts and there will be travelling scholarships awarded to the outstanding papers. I will do my best to promote collaboration among paediatric respirologists in Asia so as to meet the many challenges faced by us, like managing CF in a resources-limited environment, establishing guideline to treat common respiratory diseases like community-acquired pneumonia.
I am looking forward to working closely with the executive committee, the governing council and all members from various countries to further advance the mission of APPS in the coming years.
Professor Kun-ling Shen
President (2016 – 2018)