A Pulmonologist on Why You Should Think About Respiratory Health and the Lungs
b'COVID-19\\u2019s effects on the body are now known to be far-reaching\\u2014and long-lasting in the most severe cases\\u2014but when it started spreading across the world in early 2020, initial attention was focused on the lungs. That concern led to worries about the impact of infection for individuals with respiratory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.\\n\\n\\n\\nOn this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Meilan K. Han, MD, MS, the author of a book released this month called Breathing Lessons: A Doctor\\u2019s Guide to Lung Health. Han, a pulmonologist, gives an inside tour of the lungs and how they work, zooms out to examine the drivers of poor respiratory health, and addresses policy changes that are needed to improve lung health.\\n\\n\\n\\nHan, who started writing the book at the beginning of the pandemic, is a professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Michigan. She also serves on the scientific advisory committees for both the COPD Foundation and the American Lung Association (ALA) and is a spokesperson for the ALA.'