Award-winning Journalist – with more than 50 years of experience – Ted Koppel kicked off AARC Congress 2019 through his opening keynote message “It’s COPD – Dammit!” His personal connection to COPD through his wife Grace Anne Dorney Koppel that keeps respiratory care a top priority for him. According to Koppel, he is “continually amazed and frustrated by the general lack of knowledge about COPD and the overwhelming apathy towards what is, after all, the number three killer among chronic diseases.” He uses this to drive his focus on the attention – or inattention – dedicated to research in the treatment of COPD, working to help bring greater awareness and understanding to the disease.