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The Asian Intensive Reader of Pneumoconiosis Training Course

The aim of the course is to improve X-ray reading skills using the ILO International Classification and to contribute to the ILO/WHO GPES to eliminate pneumoconiosis worldwide.

AIRPneumo ILO system and course overview

AIR Pneumo is an international training course developed for physicians to understand and use the ILO Radiographic Classification of Pneumoconiosis 2000, to improve their radiographic reading skills using the ILO International Classification and to contribute to the ILO/WHO comprehensive measures (GPES) to eradicate pneumoconiosis worldwide. The aim of the course is to improve X-ray reading skills using the ILO International Classification and to contribute to the ILO/WHO GPES to eliminate pneumoconiosis worldwide.

About this course

In the past, the course has consisted of two full days of lectures, workshops and a renewal exam. However, due to the impact of the covid19, it has become difficult to coordinate the schedule with each doctor's busy schedule. In order to make it possible to continue to provide the exam, the AIRPneumo Secretariat, Japan at Kochi Medical School, Kochi University has decided to launch the AIRPneumo Renewal Exam by using Online distribution.

How to participate

  • Register first.
  • After register, you will be able to watch the lectures via audio video at your convenience. You can watch it as many times as you like.
  • For Small opacities and Pleural, self-practice is also delivered in this online course.
  • Once you have viewed all of the courses, to schedule a re-examination, please click on the Application for re-examination link under section 7 on the course page.
    You will be asked to fill in a Google Form and then you will be given a link to the exam fee.
    If you have any questions, you can always contact us using the contact details below.

The AIR Pneumo Asian Pneumoconiosis Readers

The AIR Pneumo Asian Pneumoconiosis Readers' Workshop educates physicians involved in the medical screening and monitoring of pneumoconiosis. The AIRPneumo Asian Pneumoconiosis Readers' Workshop is therefore an ongoing programme that contributes to the maintenance of reading competence through the establishment of an AIRPneumo Asian Pneumoconiosis Readers' Workshop every four years.

Course Staff

Narufumi Suganuma

Narufumi Suganuma

Professor Narufumi Suganuma is Dean of Kochi Medical School since 2018 after served as Vice President of Research and then VP for International Affairs of the whole Kochi University for 6 years. He has been driving a force for the globalization of KMS and KU as a whole, connecting Japan and Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines, and other countries. As an expert on occupational lung disease, he has served as ILO expert for WHO/ILO Global Programme for Elimination of Silicosis and provided courses for chest radiography reading hands-on seminars for almost 20 years. He has a special interest in medical screening of occupational environmental respiratory diseases using radiography and CT. He has a US NIOSH B reader and co-founder and director of the AIR Pneumo (Asian Intensive Reader of Pneumoconiosis) since 2006.

Yukinori Kusaka

Yukinori Kusaka

Professor Emeritus Yukinori Kusaka has been served many years as ILO Expert in Pneumoconiosis, and provided a number of lectures in ILO workshops held in Asian countries. He is one of the founding members of Asian Intensive Reader of Pneumoconioses (AIR Pneumo) Project that provides courses and examinations for interpretation of radiographic images according to ILO classification. He is currently serving as AIR Pneumo Honourary Advisor. His extensive research works cover basic toxicological studies to clinical studies on hard metal disease, diagnostic images of occupational lung diseases, radiographic and high resolution CT classifications. He has served as a committee member of revision of ILO International Classification of Radiograph of Pneumoconioses.

Taro Tamura

Taro Tamura

Associate Professor Taro Tamura obtained a medical doctor's license in 2002. He majored in respiratory medicine at the National Hospital Organization Kinki-chuo Chest Medical Center from 2005 to 2008. And from 2008, He started researching chest images of occupational and environmental respiratory diseases at the Department of Environmental Health, University of Fukui. He made great achievements in research on ILO classification, Asian Intensive Readers of Pneumoconiosis (AIR Pneumo), and International classification of HRCT for Occupational and Environmental Diseases (ICOERD). At the same time, he has been the secretariat of the Asian Pneumoconiosis Interpretation Training Course since 2008, when the first workshop was held, and is also a lecturer. He himself took and passed the AIR Pneumo exam in 2008. Currently, He is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University.

Hitomi Kanayama

Hitomi Kanayama

Since 2008, I have been learning to read pneumoconiosis chest radiographs using ILO standard films under the guidance of Prof. Kusaka. I passed the AIR Pneumo exam in 2010 and the NIOSH B Reader exam in 2011 at CCIT, Bangkok, Thailand. Since 2016, I have been a lecturer for the Japan AIR Pneumo Re-certification Workshop and since 2020, I have been a member of the Japan AIR Pneumo Committee.
I am a doctor in the field of public health and occupational health. My mission is to help as many doctors as possible in my field to learn the film reading of pneumoconiosis using international standard films for his/her research and educational purposes.

Naw Awn JP

Naw Awn JP

Dr. JP Naw Awn graduated medical school in 1999 from Mandalay Institute of Medicine, Myanmar. He received his master degree in medical science in 2015 from Kochi Medical School, Japan. Currently, he works for the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Kochi Medical School as an associated researcher. Since 2018, he has also served as a general secretary for the AIR Peumo project. His interest is in epidemiology study.

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AIR Pneumo Secretariat, Japan

Department of Environmental Medicine
Kochi Medical School, Kochi University
Phone: +81 88 880 2406
Email: jm-miyako.sumida@kochi-u.ac.jp

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