Asthma Resources for Health Care Providers

The Mass General Brigham Asthma Center is committed to sharing information about asthma, both at an introductory level and state-of-the-art developments in asthma pathobiology and management, with other healthcare providers.

We offer educational programs for physicians (Asthma Grand Rounds and Update on Severe Asthma); for nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists (Asthma Educators’ Institute’s Becoming an Asthma Educator course); and for community health workers, practical nurses, medical assistants, and personal care attendants (Learn and Teach the Asthma Basics).

Asthma Educators' Institute

Our Asthma Center formed its Asthma Educators’ Institute in 2003 with the purpose of providing continuing education about asthma and allergies to allied health professionals, including those who were preparing to take the National Asthma Educator Certification Board examination in order to become a certified asthma educator. Our live programs stopped in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, but an online version of our Becoming an Asthma Educator course was fully updated and re-recorded in 2024, and is available online.

Newly released in the fall of 2025, our Learn and Teach about Asthma: The Basics course is unique in 2 ways: it is an introductory course designed for allied health professionals and others engaged in the care of persons with asthma who may not have a strong background in the medical sciences; and the 5 video-recorded presentations are available in both English and in Spanish.

Becoming an Asthma Educator course information

Becoming an Asthma Educator is an online program with current information on asthma diagnosis, assessment, and treatment. It consists of a series of 9 video recordings, each approximately 40-45 minutes in length, and each followed by self-assessment multiple-choice questions with discussion of correct answers. It is designed to help allied health professionals to become qualified asthma educators. The registration fee is $75.

Module #1 Understanding & Teaching the Mechanisms of Asthma
Module #2 Diagnosis & Assessment of Asthma
Module #3 Introduction to Pulmonary Function Testing
Module #4 Ambulatory Management of Asthma in the Adult
Module #5 Special Considerations in Children
Module #6 Assessing & Managing Allergic Sensitivities
Module #7 Inhalers & Other Asthma-Related Devices
Module #8 Managing Exacerbations of Asthma
Module #9 Developing an Asthma Action Plan

In support of improving patient care, Mass General Brigham is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Nursing

Mass General Brigham designates this activity for 6.75 ANCC contact hours. Nurses should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Physician Assistants

Mass General Brigham has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 6.75 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid until June 2025. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.

Learn and Teach about Asthma: The Basics course information

Learn and Teach About Asthma: The Basics is an introductory course for healthcare workers seeking to learn more about asthma and its treatment. It has been designed specifically for community health workers, medical assistants, nurses’ aides, daycare workers, and others with a similar interest in helping to care for children and adults with asthma. It does not assume any advanced medical background. For those more comfortable learning in Spanish, all of the lectures have been recorded in Spanish.

The course consists of 5 video-recorded lectures. All of the slides shown in the lectures are available as PDF files (in English and in Spanish). Topics include:

Understanding what asthma is, and what it is not;
Medication inhalers and other devices used in the management of asthma;
Asthma attacks and the “asthma action plan” to help patients manage flares of their asthma;
Approach to the patient with allergies and asthma; and
A multiple-choice quiz to help you review various asthma-related topics by means of discussion of 10 clinical case scenarios.

This continuing professional development activity has been approved for 3 contact hours by the American Nurses Association Massachusetts, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Asthma Grand Rounds

Mass General Brigham Asthma Center offers its Asthma Grand Rounds via live webcasting 5 times a year. This program provides up-to-date information on asthma and related topics for physicians and other healthcare providers with a special interest in asthma. It is available online at no charge. Live attendance is accredited by Harvard Medical School for 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

Asthma Grand Rounds live presentations and past video recordings
8:00 - 9:00 a.m.

September 12, 2025
Novel Imaging Techniques and Phenotypes in Asthma and COPD
Alejandro Diaz, MD, MPH and Carrie Pistenmaa, MD

November 21, 2025
Allergen- and Damage-sensing Epithelial Cells in the Airways
Lora Bankova, MD

January 23, 2026
Sex Differences in Asthma: What Genomics Can Teach Us
Dawn DeMeo, MD, MPH

March 27, 2026
Predicting Clinical Responses to Asthma Biologics
Ayobami Akenroye, MBChB, MPH, PhD

June 5, 2026
Pro-Con Debate: Remission is Currently a Legitimate Target in Asthma Management
Elliot Israel, MD and Benjamin Medoff, MD

Support the Asthma Center

Asthma Center Grand Rounds’ podcast

You may subscribe to podcasts of Mass General Brigham’s Asthma Center Grand Rounds presentations on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe to the podcast

Update on Severe Asthma

The Mass General Brigham Asthma Center, together with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Severe Asthma program, offers an annual Update on Severe Asthma course each March, approved for CME credit by Harvard Medical School. It is offered in hybrid format, with both in-person and on-line attendance.

Course program for Update on Severe Asthma 2025

Visiting Professor Medical Grand Rounds

Annually since 1991 we have invited distinguished scientists from around the world to visit our Asthma Center and give Medical Grand Rounds at the Brigham and Women’s Hosptial and Massachusetts General Hospital. Since 2001 this Visiting Professorship has been named in honor of Jeffrey M. Drazen, MD, a “founding father” of this unique collaboration between allergists and pulmonologists at multiple hospitals and community practices in the Mass General Brigham healthcare system.

Mucus plugs in the airway: an under-appreciated pathology in asthma and COPD by John V. Fahy, MD, MSc (2024)
My pediatric patient with asthma: your future adult one? by Francine M. Ducharme, MD, MSc (2023)
Environmental contributions to health disparities in obstructive airway disease by Nadia N. Hansel, MD, MPH (2022)
Severe asthma beyond T2 inflammation: what’s next? by Christopher Brightling, MD (2021)
Asthma management: new facts burst old rules by Roland Buhl, MD (2019)
When and how does asthma begin? by Robert F. Lemanske, Jr., MD (2017)

In addition, beginning in 2023 a generous grant from the Charles and Amelia Gould Trust has made possible a second annual Visiting Professorship at the Mass General Brigham Asthma Center. Below are the past Gould Visiting Professors with links to their video-recorded lectures.

Where Are We Heading with Treatment of Airway Disease? by Ian Pavord, MA, DM, FRCP, FERS, FMedSci (2023)
More Than a Disease of the Airways: Systemic Effect of Asthma by Nizar Jarjour, M.D. (2024)
Progress in Obstructive Lung Disease: Bedside to Bench and Back by Prescott Woodruff, M.D., M.P.H. (2025)

Research at the Asthma Center

The Mission Statement of the Mass General Brigham Asthma Center articulates a commitment "to develop new knowledge about asthma and its management through relevant medical research." In this spirit, members of the Mass General Brigham Asthma Center continue to build on a rich tradition of contribution to the body of medical knowledge about the mechanisms and treatment of asthma and related diseases. We are pleased to number among the members of our faculty many acknowledged world leaders engaged in this pursuit. We encourage you to peruse the wide variety of material that they have produced in recent years.

The Asthma Research Center at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in conjunction with Harvard Medical School and the Mass General Brigham Asthma Center is dedicated to conducting research that advances the treatment and understanding of asthma.

Our research investigations in asthma are varied. Our goals at the Asthma Research Center include determining how to best use currently available drugs, examining the potential effectiveness of new drugs and therapies, and trying to increase the understanding of the mechanisms of asthma in the hope of developing new therapies.

Call us at 617-732-8201 or 1-888-99-ASTHMA to get more information or to see if you qualify.