
The Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine congratulates Dr. Kaharu Sumino on receiving a Here and Next Ignite Interdisciplinary Grant for the project AIR-NET (Action for Integrating AIR in Nigeria’s Asthma Treatment). This award marks a milestone for the Division as our first Here and Next–funded project and among our first global health initiatives focused on a low- and middle-income country. Developed through collaborations formed via the American Thoracic Society MECOR Program, the project brings together an interdisciplinary team from WashU Medicine and Nigerian partners to address barriers to adopting Anti-Inflammatory Reliever therapy for asthma care in Nigeria. Over the one-year award period, the team will engage stakeholders, conduct interviews and workshops, and co-create locally adapted implementation tools to support future adoption of evidence-based asthma treatment, with the goal of informing larger-scale efforts across low- and middle-income countries.