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Prof. Mike Thomas
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Prof. Josep M. Antó
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Doctor Aiguader, 88 (Barcelona)

His research has focused on the epidemiology of asthma and COPD with special interest on the environmental determinants and prevention of these diseases, and he has published over 300 papers in leading scientific journals. During the last years he has been increasingly devoted to adapt environmental health strategies to the fight against climate change and to promote the concept of planetary health locally and internationally.
Prof. Antonio Anzueto

His areas of interest include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, community-acquired pneumonia, sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and lung transplantation.
He is a member of a number of medical committees, a reviewer for various scientific journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, and has published over 250 manuscripts in highly rated medical journals. He has extensive research experience as has been the principal investigator of numerous large multicenter clinical trials. He is member of several international committees such as the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD); ATS/IDSA Community Acquired Pneumonia Guidelines Committee; International committee – consensus conference on ALI/ARDS. He is also a practicing physician that has been nominated over the last 8 years as a “Best Pulmonary Doctor” in San Antonio, Texas.
Prof. Sinthia Bosnic-Anticevich

Prof. Henry Chrystyn

Professor Chrystyn has published over 250 original research articles involving inhalers and supervised 53 PhD students. He is internationally recognized for his research on inhaled therapies, which has a strong emphasis on how patients use inhalers, and the integration of pharmaceutical sciences with routine patient care.
Professor Chrystyn was lead author of the ERS Consensus Statement on the use of inhalers published in the European Respiratory Journal in 2011. He is a member of the inhaler devices section of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guidelines on the Management of Asthma and, until his retirement, he was an Executive Editor of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology for approximately 20 years.
Prof. David Halpin

He is also Honorary Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI) in Singapore.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Initiative on Obstructive Lung Diseases (GOLD) and of the GOLD Science Committee. He was the Chairman and Clinical Expert for the COPD Guideline Development Group of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK.
He studied at Oxford University (first class honours) & St Thomas Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1986. He was awarded an MRC scholarship to undertake a D.Phil. in the Department of Human Anatomy at Oxford University, between his pre-clinical and clinical training. He trained in respiratory medicine at the Brompton Hospital in London.
He is a Fellow of Royal College Physicians, and a Member of the BTS, ERS & ATS.
He has served on various BTS committees.
In 2018 he was elected as a Fellow of ERS in recognition of lifetime excellence and contributions to research, education and clinical leadership in respiratory medicine.
His research is focussed on clinical aspects of COPD and asthma. He has published extensively and frequently gives presentations on COPD and asthma at lectures and meetings around the world.
He was an Associate Editor of Thorax and is on the editorial board of several journals and is a peer reviewer for many others.
Prof. MeiLan Han
Scientific Advisory Committee, ACRC Principal Investigator, National SpokespersonCOPD, interstitial lung disease, lung transplant and women's respiratory health
Professor, Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Michigan Health System and Director of the Michigan Airways Program

After graduating from the University of Washington School of Medicine, she completed her residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Michigan. Dr. Han has also completed a Master's of Science degree in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She belongs to numerous professional societies including the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society. She is also an associate editor for the journal American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and serves on the editorial boards for several journals including Thorax and Lancet Respiratory Medicine. She also serves as a Scientific Advisory Committee member to the COPD Foundation and the American Lung Association.
Dr. Han's research interests include defining disease phenotypes in COPD in particular through radiologic characterization of disease. She is also the Principal Investigator at the University of Michigan for the COPDGene study as well as SPIROMICS, two large National Heart Lung and Blood Institute funded COPD cohort studies as well as the American Lung Association Airways Clinical Research Centers (ACRC) Network. She also serves on the Global Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) science committee that develops internationally recognized management strategies for COPD.
In addition to the primary areas of expertise listed above, Dr. Han also has expertise in the health effects of air pollution, harms of tobacco use, e-cigarettes, youth smoking rates, secondhand smoke exposure, older Americans and lung health, bronchiectasis, vaccination, influenza and pneumonia.
Prof. Nicola A. Hanania, MD, MS, FCCP, FACP, FRCP(C), FERS
Associate Professor of MedicineSection of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Director
Airways Clinical Research Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

As a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), Dr Hanania has served on the Board of Regents and as chair of the Clinical Pulmonary Medicine, Airways Disorders Networks and Council of NetWorks for this organization. He has been on the Board of Trustees of the Chest Foundation since 2012. In addition, he served as a member of the Health Policy Committee of the American Thoracic Society (ATS). He is a fellow of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He has served on several guideline and workshop panels, including the ACP (American College of Physicians)/ATS/ACCP/ERS clinical practice guidelines on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the CTS (Canadian Thoracic Society)/ACCP COPD exacerbations guidelines.
Dr Hanania has received multiple awards, including the ACCP’s Distinguished Scholar in Respiratory Health, ACCP distinguished CHEST educator (DCE), ACCP Humanitarian Award, Career Investigator Award (K23) from the National Institutes of Health, Fulbright and Jaworski’s Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching and Evaluation, and the Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Baylor also named him to the Academy of Distinguished Educators for 2003 to 2010. He is a deputy editor of Respiratory Medicine and is associate editor of the journals Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine (Asthma Section), and Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
Dr Hanania’s research interests focus on the pharmacology and management of asthma and COPD. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, editorials, and reviews on these topics. He is actively involved in clinical trials investigating novel treatments. He is principal investigator for the American Lung Association Airways Clinical Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as principal investigator or co-investigator in several clinical trials in asthma and COPD. Dr Hanania has been invited and has lectured widely at local, regional, national, and international meetings.
Dr. Alan Kaplan

Medical Director LHIN Pulmonary Rehabilitation Clinics
Chairperson of the Family Physician Airways Group of Canada (www.fpagc.com)
Past- Chairperson of the Respiratory Section of the College of Family Physicians of Canada
Senate member of the International Primary Care Respiratory Group
President of the IPCRG 5th biennual world scientific meeting, “Making Every Breath Count” Toronto June 2-5, 2010
Chair of the Council of Organizing Members of the Canadian Network for Respiratory Care
Member of Past Canadian Consensus Guidelines for H pylori, Asthma, COPD and Sinusitis
Representative of the College of Family Physicians of Canada to the SARS clinical working group
Member of Chronic Respiratory Disease Surveillance Advisory Committee (Public Health Agency of Canada)
Member of the Health Canada Section on Allergy and Respiratory Therapies
Co-Chair, Health Quality Ontario COPD Community Management standards committee
Board member, Thrombosis Canada
Vice President, Respiratory Effectiveness Group
Dr. Marc Miravitlles

Prof. Nikos Papadopoulos

He has extensive clinical and educational experience in paediatric allergy, having headed for many years a unit caring for more than 7,000 children with allergic diseases yearly, implementing state-of-the-art interventions and training medical students, resident paediatricians and allergists. His research focus is the interface between infection and allergic disease, with an emphasis on asthma exacerbations and food allergy. He is the Coordinator of the EU-funded CURE project. He has extensive collaborations in the context of EU projects, such as PreDicta, GA2LEN, EUROPREVALL, iFAAM and FAST. Prof. Papadopoulos has published over 300 papers (h-index: 70), has received several international awards and is invited to speak at international scientific meetings some 30 times a year. Moreover, he has served or is serving on the boards of EAACI, GA2LEN, WAO, EFA and ARIA. He was the 2013–2015 President of EAACI and is currently the President of the Respiratory Effectiveness Group (REG).
Prof. Alberto Papi

He trained in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Parma, before spending 4 years in the UK as a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, where he is an Honorary Clinical Lecturer.
He has coordinated several pivotal studies in asthma and COPD, and has authored more than 350 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Prof. Chin Kook Rhee

Prof. Rhee is an Associate Editor of BMC Pulmonary Medicine. He is a member of Editorial Board of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Journal of COPD, Journal of Thoracic Disease, Journal of Korean Medical Science, and Life. He is also a Deputy Editor of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases.
Prof. Rhee is a Head Elect of APSR COPD assembly and APSR Bulletin Coordinator. He is also a member of APSR council and APSR Education Committee. He is APSR 2022 Congress Vice Secretary. He is a member of steering committee of International Severe Asthma Registry. He is also a member of many committee of Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease.
Prof. Rhee has published 184 SCI(E) articles (75 publications as first/corresponding author). The focus of his research is COPD and asthma with primary interests in topics related to cohort study, big data analysis, clinical trial, ACO, and severe asthma.
Dr. Dermot Ryan

Prof. Sejal Saglani
Professor of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, Imperial College LondonHonorary Consultant, Royal Brompton Hospital, London

My research programme enables the investigation of mechanisms underlying the onset of severe preschool wheeze, factors that determine progression to childhood asthma with the ultimate aim of identifying disease modifying therapies for preschool wheeze and childhood severe asthma.
Prof. Joan B. Soriano
Associate Professor of Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cátedra UAM-Linde, and Senior Investigator at the Instituto de Investigación Hospital Universitario de la Princesa-IISP, Madrid, Spain
Prof. Steve Turner

Prof. Omar Usmani

His clinical research themes are Inhaled Drug Delivery, Airways Physiology, Lung Imaging, Respiratory Pharmacology and Tele-monitoring / E-health. He is Secretary of Assembly 5 (Asthma and COPD) at the ERS, Chair of UKIG (UK Inhaler Group), Vice-Chair of Drug Delivery to the Lungs, and Europe Liaison of International Society of Aerosols in Research (ISAM).
In 2012, he was awarded a UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Career Development Fellowship, the first time this award category was given to Respiratory Science research in the UK. In 2015, received one of the highest accolades in aerosol science, the Thomas T Mercer Award from the American Association of Aerosol Research (AAAR) and ISAM, recognizing his international research excellence in pharmaceutical aerosols and inhalable materials. He is currently clinical lead on an EU Horizon 2020 consortium project ‘myaircoach’ focusing on the tele-monitoring of patients with asthma and is PI of an FDA awarded project on understanding patient perceptions in breathing from a DPI.
Prof. Job van Boven

He obtained his PharmD and PhD at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), where his thesis focused on the cost-effectiveness of adherence enhancing interventions in patients with COPD. After his PhD research, he completed fellowships at the University of Colorado (USA), Monash University (Australia) and the Hospital Universitario Son Espases (Spain).
He is (co)author of >100 scientific publications, supervisor of 9 PhD students and received several research prices & grants (totalling>€6 million). Having interest and wide experience in both medication adherence and health economic methods, his mission is to find novel, cost-effective ways to make better use of our respiratory medications in order to maximize both patients’ and societal benefits. Amongst others, his research aims to provide evidence for optimal implementation of drug-device technologies (digital inhalers, electronic pill bottles and smart spacers) in daily clinical practice.
Prof. Adnan Custovic

In 2020, he was elected to the Fellowship of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2019, he was granted membership of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ANUBiH). In 2015 he was awarded a highly prestigious European Respiratory Society Gold Medal for research in asthma. In 2013 he received the BSACI William Frankland Medal for outstanding contributions to clinical allergy in the UK. He delivered numerous prestigious keynote/named lectures. He publisher >350 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
He currently serves as the Associate Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and on the International Advisory Board of the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. He serves at the Board of Directors of the World Allergy Organisation, and has served as a Secretary of the BSACI for two terms, and as President of Asthma section of the EAACI.
He has supervised 18 PhD/MD students to completion.
Prof. Todor A. Popov, MD, PhD

Prof. Giorgio Walter Canonica
Allergist and Pulmonologist
Giorgio Walter Canonica is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Humanitas University & Director Personalized Medicine Asthma & Allergy Center at Humanitas Research Hospital - Milano, Italy. Professor Canonica first specialised in pulmonary diseases after receiving his medical degree from the University of Genoa, Italy. He then specialised in allergy and clinical immunology at Florence University, Italy. He subsequently conducted clinical immunology and allergology research at several European Universities and Institutes, in addition to two years at the Medical University of South Carolina, USA. Since returning to the University of Genoa in 1995, Professor Canonica has held a number of academic positions, including Director of the Speciality School of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Director of the Specialty School of Pulmonary Diseases and Chairman of the Department of Medical Specialties (University Hospital San Martino Genoa, Italy). He is a Board Member of ARIA-Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma and helped to develop their guidelines.
He has been President of WAO-World Allergy Organization, Interasma-Global Asthma Association, currently VicePresident of REG-Respiratory Effectiveness Group.
He is Steering Committee Member of SANI-Severe Asthma Network Italy.
Dr. James Paton
James Paton is a Reader in Paediatric Respiratory Disease at the University of Glasgow and is one of 6 specialist paediatric respiratory consultants at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. Currently, he leads the regional difficult asthma service in Glasgow.
He has a long-standing interest in asthma audit and started the UK paediatric asthma audit. He was the paediatric member of the writing committee National Review of Asthma Deaths Report “Why Asthma Still Kills”. He was co-chair for the last BTS SIGN asthma guideline in 2019.
Professor Helen Reddel, MBBS PhD FRACP
Dr Reddel is a Research Leader at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research at the University of Sydney; Clinical Adviser for the Australian Centre for Airways disease Monitoring, and a respiratory physician at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.
As Chair of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Science Committee, Dr Reddel has led major evidence-based changes in clinical recommendations for asthma management, with a strong focus on improving patient-health professional communication, and on making guidelines not only evidence-based, but also patient-centred and practical.
Dr Reddel has a long history of collaborative research with pharmacists and family physicians to address practical barriers to care of patients with asthma and COPD. Her current research includes investigating clinical trajectories and underlying mechanisms in a real-world cohort of patients with asthma and/or COPD; strategies for identifying and reducing risk in mild asthma; population monitoring of asthma and COPD; and qualitative research about patient perspectives in mild and severe asthma.
Prof. Anthony D’Urzo MD, MSc, BPHE, CCFP, FCFP
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto (UofT), a UTOPIAN researcher (Department of Family and Community Medicine, UofT) and Director of the Primary Care Lung Clinic, Toronto. I have a very keen interest in promoting respiratory health in primary care and have had the opportunity to do so at the local, national and International levels over the last 30 years. I am very actively involved in clinical and pharmaco-therapeutic research in the areas of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) management. I enjoyed being a member of the Canadian Asthma Guidelines Committee and the Canadian Thoracic Society COPD Guidelines Committee. Since 1994 I have had the opportunity to work closely with Ontario Lung Association and the Ontario Thoracic Society on many exciting collaborative projects. I have had the opportunity to publish articles relating to respiratory health in leading peer-reviewed journals. I enjoy being an editorial board member of various peer review medical journals and the recently formed UTOPIAN Respiratory Health Working Group, UofT. I have also enjoyed my role as the Associate Director of the Health Science Research Component in the undergraduate medical curriculum at University of Toronto medical school.
Prof. Bartolome Celli
Professor Bartolome Celli graduated from Universidad Central de Venezuela, completed his training in Internal Medicine, and was Chief Medical Resident, at the Boston City Hospital. He then trained in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. Currently, he is Professor of Medicine at Tufts and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Celli has published over 400 peer reviewed scientific papers, 425 abstracts and edited several books. He has been the Chairman of the Committee that established the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of COPD. In addition, he is in the Scientific Committee of the Global Obstructive Lung Disease initiative and currently serves in the Board of Directors of GOLD. He has also been Chairman of the Clinical Assembly of the ATS and President of the Massachusetts Thoracic Society and New England College of Chest Physicians. Although caring for patients provides unique pleasure, my greatest achievement is to have personally helped mentor many young careers in Medicine. Ten Professors of Medicine, one Dean and two Vice-Deans of medical schools in the United States and in Colombia are among the 65 individuals in whom I have tried to instill a love for the profession, a desire to generate new knowledge, and respect for our fellow humans and for the world at large. My trainees are located in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Japan and Latin America.
Dr. Pilar Rivera Ortega
Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Respiratory Medicine DepartmentWythenshawe Hospital
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
United Kingdom
Dr Rivera Ortega is a Respiratory Consultant with expertise in interstitial lung diseases (ILD), who has been working in the ILD unit of Wythenshawe Hospital since April 2018, for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. She is the lead of the Familial Interstitial Pneumonia clinic and the lead of ILD bronchoscopy list at Wythenshawe Hospital. Dr Rivera Ortega has spent three years as a clinical/research fellow and trained as a specialist in ILD with Dr Maria Molina-Molina at Bellvitge University Hospital, Barcelona-Spain. She is the former coordinator of the Emerging Spanish ILD group (GEEPID-SEPAR) and current member of the executive board of the Spanish ILD group (EPID-SEPAR). Dr Rivera Ortega participates as principal investigator and co-investigator of several clinical trials related to ILD. She has previous experience in the development of a rapid circuit for assessment of ILDs.
Prof. John Blakey
John Blakey is a consultant in Respiratory Medicine at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth. His clinical activities involve the management of airways diseases including severe asthma, and common co-morbidities such as ILO. John’s research interest is in health service delivery, including improving the assessment of future risk in asthma.