Why Give?

Hold your breath for as long as you think you can, hold it a second or two longer, then imagine living life with that feeling. 

Dyspnea (a.k.a. shortness of breath) is the major symptom of lung and heart disease, cancer and numerous other clinical disorders. It is as common as pain in the palliative care setting and when it becomes inescapable it generates fear and anxiety. The discomfort and emotional impacts have a severe, negative impact on the quality of life of millions of people and their families worldwide. The Dyspnea Society's goals address current suffering by 1) developing a better understanding of how dyspnea is generated, 2) improve its measurement so that it is no longer overlooked, 3) improve management of dyspnea. 

How can you help?

The Dyspnea Society is a not-for-profit organization, and members of the executive committee or program committee are not paid for the work they do - all of the society's funding goes to meeting its goals. While the society charges its members a small annual membership fee to cover most operational and meeting costs, to achieve its goals of understanding the mechanisms and improving the measurement and management of dyspnea, we need your help.  

Please considering making a charitable donation to the Dyspnea Society. Donations can be made securely through Paypal using either a credit card or your PayPal account. Making a donation is simple and customizable so that you can choose which aspect of the Dyspnea Society's goals you would like help us accomplish. Alternatively, you can choose to make a general contribution. All areas are important and we have to be successful in each one in order to make meaningful progress. 

Please consider making a contribution to one of the following areas when you click the donate button at the bottom of the page. 

The President's Travel Award

The success of the society depends on its global and diverse membership and meeting attendance. To help break down financial barriers for meeting attendance, the President's Award supports travel for early investigators (PhD students and Fellows) to attend the biannual meeting, present their science and become part of the next generation of dyspnea researchers. Awards are selected every two years prior to the society meeting based on the applicant's scientific merit and impact. 

The Booth Breathlessness Research Award

Dr Sara Booth was a pioneering doctor who became known internationally for her groundbreaking work on the management of chronic breathlessness. She set up the first service for people with intractable breathlessness. Underpinned by rigorous research, it has since been emulated in many countries. In 2022, Sara sadly died at the age of 63. You can learn more about Sara and her work here.

As a tribute to Sara's visionary and inspiring work, this award supports the next generation of researchers endeavoring to improve the quality of life of the many people suffering from this distressing and debilitating symptom.  This award will be given at each Dyspnea Society meeting to an early or mid-career researcher who submits the best abstract describing applied clinical research in the field of chronic breathlessness.

The Dyspnea Society Fund

A donation directly to the Dyspnea Society will help us continue to grow in size and scope. National Institutes of Health funding of dyspnea research in 2023 was about 2% of that spent on pain research, yet the symptoms are both prevalent and impact so many people and their families. Any contribution to the society's general fund will allow us to bring more attention to dyspnea, build the next generation of researchers and support them with research funding while translating state-of-the-art research in to the clinical realm of those suffering with dyspnea. More focused opportunities for giving are below. 

The Lansing Research Award

This award commemorates the contributions of physiological psychologist Dr Robert W Lansing to dyspnea science and education. The Dyspnea Lab at Harvard was anchored in a 4-decade collaboration between Bob Lansing and Bob Banzett. The accomplishments of the laboratory were entirely dependent on Bob Lansing's imaginative and rigorous application of psychophysical principles to the measurement of respiratory sensation. His patient guidance and teaching benefited the careers of a number of younger scientists.

The Lansing Research Award will be given to early career researchers who emulate Robert's incisive thinking and (gentle) insistence on good evidence and good logic.

Robert died in 2021, aged 95. You can read more about Robert here.