The New American Lung Association

I’ve spent the majority of my career at the American Lung Association.  I started in 1978 as a lung health educator, and through the years I’ve been fortunate to work in all facets of our organization, culminating in the role of National President and CEO in 2013.

There have been a lot of changes over the years in the public health landscape, and in the work that the Lung Association supports. While we have seen great strides in our work, new issues continue to threaten our lung health. For instance, while we have seen the lowest rates of smoking in our lifetime, we are facing a surge of young people trying and getting hooked on e-cigarettes. Our Airways Clinical Research Centers discovered that the flu vaccine was safe for people with asthma – saving countless lives, and now we are poised to tackle the novel coronavirus that is spreading throughout the country. We have advocated and defended the Clean Air Act for over 50 years, while the Clean Power Plan was repealed only four years after it was enacted. Our mission to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease never waivers. But how we make progress on that mission adapts and changes as the need arises.

Part of that adaptation includes how we present our organization to our constituents, donors and partners. We are excited to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of our enduring symbol of the American Lung Association – our iconic logo – this year.  As we look to the future of our organization, you’ll notice that we’ve made a few updates to our look, including the adoption of blue.   With this change, we want to reemphasize our commitment to breath, life and clean air – because when you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.  The American Lung Association has been the trusted champion of lung health, and we are recommitting ourselves to that cause in the face of new lung health challenges.  

As the nation’s longest-standing voluntary public health association, we pioneered the model of combining health education, public advocacy and groundbreaking research to address public health issues.  When we were founded in 1904, we played a critical role in eradicating tuberculosis in the United States.  Building upon that strong foundation, we are committed to four strategic imperatives to get us closer to a world free of lung disease in the coming years:

1. To defeat lung cancer
2. To champion clean air for all
3. To improve the quality of life for those with lung disease and their families
4. To create a tobacco-free future

We invite you to look through our redesigned website to see how we are making an impact on lung health, and how you can get involved.  

• Watch our new videos and animations
• Join our local events and our national campaigns 
• Share your lung health story
• Sign-up for our advocacy messages

Our brand transition is not just about changing our color palette or logo.  It’s about an organizational transformation, a change in voice and message to more closely align with our true identity in the public health space.  As one nationwide organization, we are proud to empower your voices and work together to improve lung health, and we cannot thank you enough for your support.

Follow along for historical updates during our full-year of centennial celebrations for the iconic symbol of the American Lung Association.