National Jewish Health 48th Annual Pulmonary & Allergy Update 2026

Advanced Pulmonology, Asthma, COPD & Allergy Medicine Clinical Review

The National Jewish Health 48th Annual Pulmonary & Allergy Update 2026 delivers a high-level clinical review of modern pulmonary medicine, allergy, immunology, and chronic airway disease management. Hosted by National Jewish Health—widely recognized as one of the leading respiratory hospitals in the United States—this annual conference brings together nationally respected experts to discuss evolving therapies, emerging biologics, pulmonary diagnostics, respiratory inflammation, and multidisciplinary approaches to complex airway disease.

Held at the Keystone Conference Center in Colorado, the meeting focuses on clinically relevant updates directly applicable to outpatient pulmonology, inpatient respiratory care, allergy practice, and multidisciplinary chronic disease management. The program combines evidence-based medicine with practical clinical reasoning, emphasizing the real-world complexity of respiratory and allergic disorders increasingly encountered in modern practice.

This video-only educational package includes expert-led sessions covering severe asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, chronic cough, sleep apnea, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary function testing, food allergy, airway inflammation, obesity-related respiratory disease, and the expanding role of artificial intelligence in pulmonary medicine.

The Evolving Landscape of Pulmonary & Allergy Medicine

Respiratory medicine has undergone major transformation over the last decade. Traditional approaches centered largely on bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids are increasingly being supplemented—or in some cases replaced—by precision therapies, biologics, advanced pulmonary diagnostics, and inflammatory phenotyping.

Modern pulmonologists and allergists now routinely manage patients with overlapping:

• Severe asthma phenotypes
• COPD and eosinophilic airway disease
• Obesity-related respiratory dysfunction
• Chronic cough syndromes
• Sleep-disordered breathing
• Bronchiectasis
• Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP)
• Atopic disease and food allergy
• Complex inflammatory airway disorders

The National Jewish Health Pulmonary & Allergy Update 2026 reflects this evolution through clinically grounded lectures focused on practical decision-making and multidisciplinary care.

Severe Asthma & COPD Management in 2026

Asthma and COPD remain central themes throughout the conference.

The program reviews:

• Emergency asthma management
• COPD exacerbation treatment
• Biologic therapies in COPD
• Severe asthma phenotyping
• Airway inflammation targeting
• Advanced respiratory pharmacotherapy

One recurring challenge in pulmonary medicine involves distinguishing patients who may benefit from targeted biologic therapy from those more appropriately managed with conventional inhaled regimens and lifestyle interventions.

The sessions appropriately emphasize individualized treatment selection rather than overly rigid algorithmic management.

The emergency management lecture is particularly relevant because acute asthma and COPD exacerbations continue to account for substantial ICU admissions, hospitalizations, and outpatient morbidity worldwide.

Biologics & Precision Airway Disease Therapy

The lecture on biologics in COPD management reflects one of the more rapidly evolving areas in respiratory medicine.

The course explores:

• Biologic therapies in airway disease
• Eosinophilic COPD
• Inflammatory phenotyping
• Precision respiratory medicine
• Targeted pulmonary therapies

As biologics increasingly expand beyond severe asthma into COPD and related inflammatory airway disorders, clinicians face important questions regarding:

• Patient selection
• Biomarker interpretation
• Long-term outcomes
• Cost-effectiveness
• Overlapping asthma-COPD phenotypes

These practical considerations are integrated throughout the respiratory sessions.

Chronic Cough & Upper Airway Disease

Chronic cough remains one of the most difficult outpatient pulmonary complaints to evaluate.

The conference reviews:

• Chronic cough diagnostic strategies
• Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP)
• Upper airway inflammatory disorders
• Multidisciplinary airway disease management

Clinical decision-making becomes especially challenging when cough overlaps with:

• Asthma
• Reflux disease
• Postnasal drainage
• Eosinophilic bronchitis
• Hypersensitivity syndromes
• Functional airway disorders

The sessions appropriately focus on structured evaluation frameworks and evidence-based treatment pathways.

Pulmonary Function Testing & Oscillometry

Pulmonary diagnostics continue evolving beyond conventional spirometry.

The oscillometry and PFT interpretation lecture reviews:

• Oscillometry applications
• Small airway disease assessment
• Pulmonary physiology interpretation
• Airway resistance measurement
• Advanced PFT analysis

As clinicians increasingly recognize the importance of early airway dysfunction and subtle inflammatory disease, advanced pulmonary function interpretation has become more clinically relevant in both asthma and COPD management.

These sessions are particularly valuable for pulmonologists, respiratory therapists, allergy specialists, and clinicians involved in pulmonary diagnostics.

Obesity Medicine & Respiratory Disease

The relationship between obesity and pulmonary disease is receiving growing attention across respiratory medicine.

The course explores:

• Weight management drugs in pulmonary care
• Obesity-related respiratory dysfunction
• Sleep apnea overlap
• Metabolic influences on pulmonary disease

The emergence of GLP-1 receptor agonists and newer metabolic therapies has significantly changed discussions surrounding obesity management in patients with asthma, sleep apnea, and chronic respiratory limitation.

Rather than treating obesity as a separate issue, the conference emphasizes its direct physiologic impact on airway disease, inflammation, sleep-disordered breathing, and pulmonary mechanics.

Sleep Medicine & Pulmonary Overlap Disorders

The sleep apnea session reviews:

• Obstructive sleep apnea management
• Sleep-disordered breathing
• Pulmonary-sleep overlap syndromes
• Modern treatment strategies

Pulmonary medicine increasingly overlaps with sleep medicine, particularly in patients with obesity, COPD, pulmonary hypertension, and cardiometabolic disease.

Bronchiectasis & Cystic Fibrosis Updates

Structural airway disease receives dedicated attention throughout the conference.

The lectures review:

• Bronchiectasis management
• Cystic fibrosis treatment updates
• Airway clearance strategies
• Infection management
• Advanced CF therapies
• Chronic airway inflammation

The cystic fibrosis session highlights how CFTR modulator therapies continue transforming long-term respiratory outcomes in cystic fibrosis patients.

Similarly, the bronchiectasis discussions reflect growing recognition that non-CF bronchiectasis requires individualized, multidisciplinary long-term care rather than episodic antibiotic treatment alone.

Food Allergy & Immunology

The allergy and immunology sessions review:

• Food allergy management
• Immunotherapy advances
• Allergy pathophysiology
• Emerging immunologic therapies

The evolving science of food allergy treatment represents one of the fastest-changing areas in clinical allergy practice.

Artificial Intelligence in Pulmonary Medicine

One of the more forward-looking sessions explores artificial intelligence and digital pulmonary care.

Topics include:

• AI-assisted pulmonary medicine
• Digital respiratory monitoring
• Data-driven airway disease management
• Technology integration in pulmonary practice

Importantly, the lecture also addresses the human and ethical dimensions of AI implementation in medicine—an increasingly important issue as healthcare systems adopt more algorithm-based decision tools.

Health Equity & Respiratory Care

The session on health equity in asthma care addresses disparities that continue affecting respiratory outcomes across vulnerable populations.

Topics include:

• Access to biologics
• Environmental disparities
• Asthma outcomes inequities
• Social determinants of respiratory health

These discussions reinforce the importance of patient-centered and equitable pulmonary care strategies.

What’s Included

• 13 expert-led pulmonology and allergy medicine videos
• Severe asthma and COPD management updates
• Pulmonary diagnostics and oscillometry review
• Bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis education
• Sleep medicine and airway disease sessions
• Allergy and immunology updates
• AI and digital respiratory care discussions

Target Audience

This course is ideal for:

• Pulmonologists
• Allergists and immunologists
• Internal medicine physicians
• Primary care physicians
• Respiratory therapists
• Advanced practice clinicians
• Nurse practitioners
• Physician assistants
• Pediatricians
• Pulmonary and allergy fellows

Why National Jewish Health Pulmonary & Allergy Update 2026 Matters

Modern pulmonary medicine increasingly requires integration between immunology, inflammatory biology, obesity medicine, sleep medicine, digital health, and precision therapeutics. Clinicians now manage far more than isolated obstructive airway disease and must navigate increasingly complex respiratory phenotypes and evolving biologic treatment strategies.

The National Jewish Health 48th Annual Pulmonary & Allergy Update 2026 reflects this changing landscape through a clinically practical and academically rigorous review of contemporary respiratory medicine. For pulmonologists, allergists, and respiratory clinicians seeking updated evidence-based guidance in asthma, COPD, chronic cough, airway inflammation, and pulmonary diagnostics, this conference provides a highly relevant educational resource grounded in real-world clinical care.