World Pneumonia Day (WPD) aims to promote understanding and awareness of Pneumonia, to inform more people about the dangers it presents. In order to recognise this awareness campaign, we spoke to the president of the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD), Cyndy Whitney, about their society and its efforts to promote WPD. 

Cyndy Whitney completed her medical residencies in Internal Medicine from the University of Minnesota and in Preventive Medicine through CDC. She holds a Master of Public Health from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Science from Iowa State University. She has published over 250 scientific publications on topics such as pneumococcal disease epidemiology, drug resistance, respiratory disease, neonatal sepsis, and disease outbreaks. Additionally, she is a frequent consultant for the World Health Organization and other bilateral and multilateral groups.

1. As the president of ISPPD how would you describe your career journey up until this point?

During my medical training, I saw up close how so many terrible diseases are preventable.  At the time, many young people were dying of HIV because the treatments and prevention programs were not very good yet.  That led me to want to enter public health with a focus on infectious diseases, so I applied and was accepted into the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  EIS is a program that provides on-the-job training for people who want to work in the field of public health.  I loved the work and the inspiring people at CDC, so I ended up staying for 25 years in a variety of roles.  My work primarily focused on preventing bacterial diseases, including neonatal sepsis and pneumonia, and vaccine policy development and evaluation.  I also did a lot of work on disease outbreaks.  For the last 5 years, I’ve been on faculty at Emory University in Atlanta, leading Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS).  CHAMPS conducts surveillance for stillbirths and deaths in children under 5 years of age in 9 countries in Africa and South Asia.  CHAMPS generates in-depth information on what caused the deaths by performing extensive testing of post-mortem specimens along with conducting clinical record review and family interviews.  CHAMPS’ goal is for this high-quality data to improve policies and programs aiming to prevent deaths. 

2. What have been the highlights of your career to date?

Working to develop the first policy for use of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in children and measuring the effects of that and next generations of vaccines through CDC’s Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs) was certainly a highlight.  Working with the Advisory Committee on Immunization on vaccine policy development was an amazing learning experience, and the scientists at CDC and around the US who make ABCs happen are incredible. 

Working with CHAMPS is also a highlight, because the partners are exceptional, the work is challenging, and the results have the potential to influence so many public health programs and policies around the world.  For example, CHAMPS is finding that the leading causes of pneumonia deaths in infants and children are Streptococcus pneumoniae – a surprise given widespread use of vaccines but we were able to show these deaths are mostly from nonvaccine serotypes – and multidrug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, a finding that suggests that the antibiotics usually used for treating pneumonia likely are not effective against this bacteria, given how drug-resistant it is.  The CHAMPS findings on Klebsiella are one of the reasons that people are working to develop a vaccine to prevent these infections.     

3. What has been the biggest and proudest achievement of the ISPPD to date?

The biggest activity of the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases is the conference that it hosts every two years.  I have been to many different scientific meetings, and I am especially proud of this conference.  The variety and quality of presentations, the energy of the participants, and the fun social events really make this a fantastic meeting.  I strongly recommend that everyone attend who has a related interest.  I’m also very proud of ISPPD’s commitment to bringing in scientists from all over the world to the conference and in fostering the careers of young scientists interested in the field.  The Gates Foundation and other partners have played critical roles in making these goals a reality along with ISPPD.

4. In reference to this year’s World Pneumonia Day theme of “Championing the fight to stop pneumonia”, in your opinion, what steps are being taken or should be taken to achieve this?

Pneumonia remains a leading cause of death even though more than 2 millennia have passed since Hippocrates’ first written description.  Many of the factors that lead to pneumonia or increase the likelihood of dying from pneumonia are preventable.  Pneumonia must be a focus for those working to improve health around the globe. 

The fight to stop pneumonia has many fronts.  A few of the priorities include:

• • Improving availability of oxygen and devices to measure oxygen levels. The COVID-19 pandemic brought this issue to the forefront and many people are working to improve oxygen supply.  Having enough oxygen is critical for supporting people with severe pneumonia while their bodies heal or antibiotics are doing their best to kill the infecting organism.  Settings with high pneumonia rates tend to be where oxygen supply is poor and healthcare facilities lack equipment to check oxygen levels. 
  • Better nutrition. Malnutrition sets up people for infections and reduces their ability to fight them off.  Malnutrition remains an incredibly common condition, especially among young children in many of the areas with high rates of pneumonia.
  • Many different pathogens cause pneumonia, and severe cases often have viruses and bacteria working together.  Vaccines targeting some pneumonia-causing bugs are already available, including vaccines that target pneumococcal infections, influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and Hemophilus influenzae type b, but these vaccines are not available everywhere.  New pneumococcal vaccines that cover more serotypes are in development, and vaccines and antibodies against RSV are beginning distribution.  Having a vaccine that prevents infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae would be very useful for preventing severe and fatal pneumonia cases. 
  • Smoking cessation. Lung damage from smoking sets people up for infections and makes it difficult to survive a lung infection. Children and non-smokers can suffer lung damage from exposure to smoky environments. While awareness of the problems caused by smoking may be increasing, the availability of cigarettes and e-cigarettes is also increasing in many settings.  New tools to help people ‘kick the habit’ are coming available. 

5. What special projects, events and activities is the ISPPD working on?

ISPPD is currently finishing up selection of winners of the Robert Austrian Research Awards.  These awards provide ‘start up’ funds for new researchers looking to conduct projects that focus on pneumonia or pneumococcal disease and are named in honor of Dr. Austrian, a pioneer in pneumococcal research and vaccine development.  Dr. Austrian was a supporter of ISPPD for many years until he passed away in 2007.  ISPPD is also working to expand our society membership and build our society’s infrastructure.  We are creating more content for our website and reaching out to other organizations with related missions to build partnerships.  Soon ISPPD will be kicking into high gear to plan the 14^th ISPPD meeting, which will be in Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-21 May 2026. 

6. Where do you see the ISPPD in 10 years’ time?

In 10 years’ time, I hope that we have solved some of the problems driving the high burden of pneumonia and the focus of ISPPD’s meeting and membership is shifting to new and emerging issues.  Public health programs will be rolling out new vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments to reduce pneumonia burden, and ISPPD will be part of the global effort to raise awareness and improve understanding of these new tools.  ISPPD will be a central hub where information is shared, new ideas emerge, and scientists are inspired to address questions on pneumonia and pneumococcal disease.