Lung Association Recognizes Maine Resident, Arthur Cerullo

The American Lung Association today announced that Arthur A. Cerullo is the recipient of the 2018 Will Ross Medal. Cerullo is a resident of North Yarmouth, Maine and has been an attorney with Drummond & Drummond LLP, the firm that incorporated the American Lung Association in 1918, for 37 years. The award was presented at the organization’s annual Awards Dinner in Chicago, where its national headquarters are located.

The Will Ross Medal, given in memory of Will Ross, a Wisconsin industrialist, is the highest honor bestowed on a volunteer from the American Lung Association who has made a significant contribution to the prevention and control of lung disease. Ross was a former tuberculosis patient, one of the American Lung Association's most dedicated volunteers, and served as the first non-medical President of the Association from 1945-1946.

“Art has been more than a volunteer for the Lung Association, he has been an inspiration and a mentor to our entire extended family for many years,” said Jeff Seyler, Chief Division Officer of the American Lung Association. “His work has played an important role in our effort to educate and advocate around healthy air initiatives – and today, communities throughout the Northeast are better for it.”

A committed mission advocate, Cerullo has testified at EPA public hearings and helped increase volunteer engagement in Advocacy Day. He helped lead the effort to update our public policy positions, work that continues to this day.

Cerullo led the call to for the American Lung Association to advocate for “healthy” air to highlight the importance of air quality to public health. Using that message, the Healthy Air Campaign has successfully advocated to clean up power plants, cars and gasoline, wood burning devices and to set more protective pollution standards.

Cerullo has been a Lung Association trail blazer, serving as a mentor to many Board members and has recruited like-minded leaders at all levels to help the Association achieve its mission. He is a passionate advocate of the American Lung Association’s mission and he leads other volunteers by his own example of volunteer participation. Cerullo has ridden in more than 25 Treks Across Maine since 1988 for the Lung Association.

As the nation's first voluntary health organization, the American Lung Association was founded by volunteers, and over a century later, they remain a vibrant, energizing force at both the national and regional levels. The annual Awards Dinner recognizes staff and volunteers who have shown exemplary effort in advancing the organization’s mission to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease, through research, education and advocacy.

###

About the American Lung Association

TheAmerican LungAssociation is the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease, through research, education and advocacy. The work of the American Lung Association is focused on four strategic imperatives: to defeat lung cancer; to improve the air we breathe; to reduce the burden of lung disease on individuals and their families; and to eliminate tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases. For more information about the American LungAssociation, or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNGUSA (1-800-586-4872) or visit: Lung.org.