M. Patricia Rivera Used Great Resolve on Her Way to Presidency of the American Thoracic Society

M. Patricia Rivera, MD, who grew up hearing that “people like you” don’t go to college, is the new president of the American Thoracic Society (ATS).

A noted lung cancer specialist who serves in many leadership roles at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Wilmot Cancer Institute, Rivera is the first Latino woman to lead the large, international organization. She is also the first faculty member from the University of Rochester to do so.

When Rivera took the helm on May 23, 2023, she shared some personal aspects of her life story at an installation ceremony in front of a large audience. She spoke of hardships—she is the daughter of Cuban-Columbian immigrants who fled Cuba during the revolution, and as a young professional she faced the devastating loss of a child. But she said her journey has provided valuable lessons along the way.

“I learned about dedication, hard work, and resilience,” Rivera said. “It’s what many immigrants need to do to survive.”

Rivera, the Jane Davis & C. Robert Davis Distinguished Professor in Pulmonary Medicine at URMC, joined URMC in April of 2022. She serves as chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and also filled a newly created position at Wilmot Cancer Institute as associate director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

In her various roles, she emphasizes that “climbing the ladder” takes courage and help from others.

“You have to always extend a hand,” she said. “There’s a misconception that people who are successful in academic life have had a linear path. But there are a lot of setbacks along the way. Nelson Mandela said: ‘Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up.’ ”

From Can’t to Can Do

Rivera lived in Cuba and Colombia before emigrating to the United States, spending her early years in Brooklyn. Although she often heard, “people like you can’t or don’t go to University,” her grandmother and mother encouraged her to pursue her ambitions.

She was awarded a full undergraduate scholarship to Pace University, working two jobs while completing studies and graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in Biology.

She then attended Stony Brook School of Medicine in New York and proceeded as an intern and resident at North Shore University Hospital. Her fellowship training and the start to her career in pulmonary medicine began at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Years earlier, Rivera said, her grandmother in Cuba was denied those same opportunities for medical school because she was a woman. So, her grandmother chose pharmacy instead—and became one of the first women to graduate from the University of Havana’s School of Pharmacy. She worked hard while raising five children.

One of those children was Rivera’s mother, who studied dentistry. Eventually, Rivera’s parents fled Cuba for South America and several years later landed in downstate New York to build a new life. But tragedy struck when Rivera’s father died unexpectedly of a massive stroke.

“My mother became a widow at age 36 with four children,” Rivera said. “I watched my mother overcome many obstacles and work so hard until age 72 to raise us and provide us with an education. From her, I learned how to push through.”

Heartbreak and Heart

She would need those lessons in resilience during a painful time in her own adult life, as Rivera and her husband were establishing themselves, newly married in 1993, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. While her husband, Ben, a surgeon, was starting his career at the University of North Carolina, Rivera was the “trailing spouse” and put aside her academic aspirations for a time. In 1994, she was also pregnant with twin boys, and sadly, one passed away immediately after birth.

At that time, popular opinion among female professionals said it was not wise to “let them see your grief,” she said. There were no grief support groups on campus, but Rivera sought help in the broader community. She ended up getting involved in counseling others as she made her own peace with grief. She also said she discovered that being transparent with colleagues and academic leaders, male and female, was the best course of action.

A year later, she was recruited to UNC. “Experience taught me that I could start again and achieve success,” she said.

While at UNC, Rivera co-founded the first Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program (MTOP) in the country, a premier program that became the model for multidisciplinary care and defined the vital role pulmonologists play in patients with thoracic malignancies.

At the American Thoracic Society, the largest respiratory society in the world with 16,000 members, Rivera will lead a five-member executive committee.

Jim White, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine and leader of the URMC pulmonary hypertension program, was in the audience at ATS and came away energized.

“I was so proud to call myself a U of R faculty member after this address,” he said in an email to Department of Medicine colleagues. “I’m sure there were many in the audience motivated and inspired to be better humans and citizens of a global community after listening to her.”

Dr. David Linehan Associate Director of Clinical Research Wilmot Cancer Institute Chair, Department of Surgery University of Rochester Medical Center

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