PRESIDENTS

Francesco Blasi
Francesco Blasi, MD, FERS, is Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Head of the Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation at the University of Milan, Italy, as well as Head of Cardiothoracic Unit IRCCS Fondazione Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Milan.
His research interests include the effects of atypical bacterial infection on cellular immunity in chronic bronchitis, and the role of atypical bacteria and viral infection in asthma onset.
He is also interested in the role of antibiotics in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations and asthma. He is actively working on pneumonia and tuberculosis research trials.
Professor Blasi has published more than 230 papers in international  journals.
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Giorgio Walter Canonica
Canonica Professor Giorgio Walter Canonica is Chairman of the Dept of Medical Specialties at the University Hospital S. Martino Genoa. He is also Director of the Allergy & Respiratory Diseases Clinic, Genoa University Italy a Galen Centre of Excellence. Professor Canonica initially specialised in pulmonary diseases after having received his medical degree from the University of Genoa, he then specialised in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Florence University.
Professor Canonica’s research interests include examination of the molecular events and interactions between immunocompetent cells, inflammatory cells and epithelial cells in allergic inflammation and airway remodelling.
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CHAIRMEN

Stefano Centanni
Centanni Prof. Stefano Centanni studied medicine at the School of Medicine of the University of Milan, where he received his Medical Doctor Degree in 1979. Following an internship at the pulmonary Division of the McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, in 1981 and a fellowship at the Pulmonary Division of the Mount Sinai Medical Center at the University of Miami, Florida, USA, in 1982, he specialized in Allergology at the University of Medicine of Pavia, Italy, in 1985.
He received a PhD in Pulmonary Diseases in 1998 at the University of Milan Medical School.
From 1990 to 1996 he worked as Assistant Professor of the University of Milan at the Pulmonary Division of the Maggiore Hospital, Milan, and from 1996 to 2005 as Associate Professor at the Pulmonary Division of the San Paolo Hospital, University of Milan. Since 1996 he is Chief of the Pulmonary Division of the San Paolo Hospital, Milan, and in 2005 he became full professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Milan.
Professor Centanni was Italian National Delegate 2007/2009 at the ERS and FERS Italian National Delegate from 2007 until 2012 and President of SIMeR (Italian Society of Respiratory Medicine – 2009/2011). Professor Centanni is author of more than one hundred scientific publications in international journals and several book chapters and books in the field of Respiratory Medicine.
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Johann Christian Virchow
Johann Christian Virchow J .Christian Virchow, MD, FRCP, FCCP, FAAAAI, is a Professor of Medicine and Pneumology and Head of the Departments of Pulmonary Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine in the University Medical Clinic at the University of Rostock, Germany. He is also the Medical Director of the Pulmonary Diagnostic Services and the Sleep Laboratory of the University of Rostock. He is Editor-in-Chief of RESPIRATORY MEDICINE and Visiting Professor of the China-Japan-friendship hospital in Beijing, PR China. He is a member of several medical organizations, including the American Thoracic Society, the European Respiratory Society, and the American College of Chest Physicians. Dr. Virchow serves as Associate Editor for several German journals in pulmonology and allergology and has served as an ad hoc reviewer for Chest, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, the European Respiratory Journal and many others. He is the author or coauthor of more than 190 peer reviewed articles for journals such as the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Chest, and European Respiratory Journal and author of several chapters for text books. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Tübingen, Germany after attending Medical School in Marburg and Giessen, Germany and Zürich, Switzerland. Dr. Virchow completed his residency in internal medicine at University Medical Clinic in Freiburg, Germany, and his fellowship in pulmonary medicine at the Department of Pneumology at the University of Freiburg, Germany under Prof. H. Matthys. His special interests are research into the mechanisms of inflammation in chronic obstructive lung diseases such as asthma and COPD as well as the treatment of these conditions.
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Tobias Welte
Welte Tobias Welte is Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and Head of the Department of Pulmonary and Infectious Diseases at Hannover University School of Medicine. He received his doctorate in respiratory medicine from Hannover University in 1994 and his habilitation in 2000.
He is currently Vice-President of the German Society of Sepsis and President of the German Society of Pneumology (DGP). He also serves on the executive board of the German Center of Lung Research (DZL), the internal board of the German Center of Infectious Diseases (DZIF) and on the board of ‘Atemwegsliga’, and is a member of the working group on mechanical ventilation for the German Society of Critical Care (DIVI) and the spokesman of the review panel of the German Research Foundation (DFG). In addition, he is the chairman of the German Network for Community-acquired Pneumonia (CAPNET) Foundation and an advisory board member of the German Sepsis Network (SEPNET).
Professor Welte has published around 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals and contributed chapters to over 100 books.
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SPEAKERS

Stefano Aliberti
Aliberti Stefano Aliberti is a specialist in Respiratory Disease.  He is Assistant Professor in Respiratory medicine at the Health Science Department, University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy. Stefano Aliberti is currently Head of the Respiratory Infections Assembly of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).
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Elisabeth Bel
Elisabeth Bel Elisabeth Bel is Professor of Medicine and head of Department at the Academic Medical Centre, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Her research focuses on the more severe types of asthma that are difficult to treat, with a particular emphasis on phenotyping, pathophysiological mechanisms, management and monitoring. She is currently president of the European Respiratory Society and an active member of the American Thoracic Society and. She is associate editor of the European Respiratory Journal and serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. She qualified in medicine at the University of Amsterdam, and received her PhD training and degree in Respiratory Medicine at Leiden University, The Netherlands.
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Andras Bikov – Rising Star
bikow-speaker-copd Dr. Andras Bikov graduated as medical doctor at Semmelweis University in 2009. In 2005, he joined the research group led by Professor Ildiko Horvath and focused on the non-invasive assessment of chronic airway diseases. Particularly, his main interest was about the methodological and physiological factors which may influence exhaled breath measurements. He defended his PhD thesis on this topic in 2014. Currently, his research focuses on the assessment of airway and systemic inflammation in chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma, COPD, lung cancer and OSA. Between 2011 and 2012 he was a recipient of a European Respiratory Society (ERS) long range training fellowship in London, National Heart and Lung Institute and was honorary clinical research fellow at Royal Brompton Hospital. Since 2012, he is a trainee in respiratory medicine at the Department of Pulmonology, Semmelweis University. He has been awarded by Semmelweis University, Hungarian Respiratory Society, and Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Bikov is an active member of the Hungarian and European Respiratory Societies, and currently participates in the ERS Task Force on exhaled breath measurements.
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Jean Bousquet
Jean Bousquet Jean Bousquet, born in 1946, is Full Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at Montpellier University, France. For 13 years, he was the Director of theInserm (Institut de la Santé de et de la Recherche Médicale) laboratory “Immunopathology of Asthma”. He is the coordinator of MeDALL (Mechanisms of the Development of Allergy), Framework Programme 7 (EU) Integrated Project (2010-2014). He has chaired GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma: 1999-2000), National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NIH) and was ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) founder (1999-current). Jean Bousquet was Chairman of the WHO Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD, 2006-2013) and is co-coordinator of the Action Plan B3 of the European Innovative Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA, Action 5: Care Pathways, Integrated Care for Chronic Diseases).
For many years, his research was focused on allergens and immunotherapy including pioneered work in sub-lingual immunotherapy. His focus was then directed towards asthma research and he performed studies involving bronchial biopsies which demonstrated inflammation in asthma (Most cited paper in asthma for over 10 years: 1,850 ISI).  He proposed and demonstrated the concept of airways remodelling in asthma. He also examined the relationships between asthma and rhinitis as a co-morbidity, particularly in severe patients. He has now turned his research interest to systems biology to understand the mechanisms of allergy and chronic diseases (MeDALL).
Jean Bousquet has public health interest, in particular as the chairman of the WHO GARD. The main activity of GARD was to help implementing chronic respiratory disease programmes at national (e.g. China, Italy, Kyrgystan, Turkey) or regional levels (Minais Gerais, Brazil) and in the UN Resolution A/RES/64/265. He is currently leading the Région Languedoc Roussillon programme on chronic diseases for an active and healthy ageing (Reference Site of the European Innovative Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing).
Jean Bousquet has always combined his research, clinical and public health interests. He performed translational research from a clinical observation in his clinic, to the assessment of the disease burden (epidemiology), the understanding the mechanisms and the implementation of the results to populations developing guidelines, national or international programmes with the WHO.
Jean Bousquet has edited and authored 10 books including one allergy texbook, and over 800 peer-reviewed papers posted in Medline. He was the editor of European Respiratory Review and Allergy (second ranking journal in the field, 2003-2009, IF: 6.2).
His H factor is 91.
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Fulvio Braido
(CV and COI Disclosure soon available)
Vito Brusasco
Brusasco Vito Brusasco, MD, is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Genoa, Italy. He received his medical degree and diploma in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Genoa. His educational and professional career includes a fellowship and the position of Associate Consultant in Anaesthesiology Research at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, US.
Professor Brusasco has been member of the ATS since 1988, serving as Chair of the Program Committee (2003–2004) and then of the Planning Committee (2004–2006) of the Respiratory Structure and Function Assembly. He has been a member of the American Physiological Society since 1987, serving as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Physiology (2001–2005). He has been member of the European Respiratory Society since 1990, serving as Head of the Clinical Physiology and Integrative Biology Assembly (1997–2001), Associate Editor (1992-1996) and Co-Chief Editor (2009-2012) of the European Respiratory Journal. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of COPD: Journal of Chronic Pulmonary Disease.
Professor Brusasco has a long-standing interest in respiratory and exercise physiology, particularly in airway responsiveness, airway smooth muscle biology and lung mechanics.He co-chaired the ATS-ERS Task Force for standardisation of lung function testing. He has published more than 200 papers in several eminent peer-reviewed journals of respiratory medicine.
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Guy Brusselle
Guy Brusselle Professor of Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium Professor Brusselle received his medical degree in 1990 at the University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium. Investigating the functional role of cytokines in allergic asthma, he obtained his PhD in 1997. He has a keen clinical and scientific interest in asthma (including severe asthma) and COPD, and joined the Ghent University Hospital as a respiratory physician in 2002. In 2008, he became Professor of Medicine at Ghent University, teaching the courses “Study design” and “Immunopathology of airway diseases” to medical and biomedical students. He is currently head of the Laboratory for Translational Research of Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases at Ghent University. Since September 2012, he is the guideline director of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).
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Mario Cazzola
cazzola-speaker-copd Mario Cazzola is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, and Visiting Professor at the Sackler Institute of Pulmonary Pharmacology, GKT School of Biomedical Sciences, London, UK. He is the author or co-author of 545 scientific papers mainly focused on the use of bronchodilators in COPD. Professor Cazzola is the Editor-in-chief of Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics and of COPD – Research and Practice. Moreover, he serves as an Associate Editor of Respiratory Medicine and Respiratory Research, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Drugs, Respiration, COPD, International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and npj Primary Care Respiratory. He is a fellow of the European Respiratory Society and has received the 2015 ERS Lifetime Achievement Assembly Award.
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James Chalmers
Chalmers Dr James Chalmers was an MRC training fellow in Edinburgh prior to moving to Dundee and was awarded a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2012. He currently works in the Division of Molecular Microbiology in the College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee.
His research interests are in translational and clinical aspects of respiratory infections and the mechanisms of bacterial colonisation in chronic lung disease.
He is a current member of the British Thoracic Society Science and Research committee, the European Respiratory Society long range planning committee and the American Thoracic Society Microbiology, Tuberculosis and Pulmonary infections program committees.
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Fabiano Di Marco
Di-Marco Fabiano Di Marco, pulmonologist working in Hospital San Paolo in Milan, is Assistant Professor of the University of Milan. His primary research interests include lung pathophysiology, COPD, asthma, invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation. He has published more than 60 papers in international peer reviewed journals, and is an Associate Editor of BMC Pulmonary Medicine.
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Mark Elliott
Mark Elliott Mark Elliott is a Consultant Physician at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds. He has been responsible for developing the home sleep and assisted ventilation service, for acute in hospital NIV and weaning of patients with prolonged ventilator dependence. Research interests are in acute and chronic non invasive ventilation and sleep related abnormalities of breathing.
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Jonas Erjefält
Erjefalt-speaker-copd Jonas Erjefält is Professor in Immunology and Inflammation Research and Head of  the Unit of Airway Inflammation at Lund University, Sweden.  After his basic training and PhD studies at the Medical Faculty in Lund Dr Erjefält has worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry and at the National Heart & Lung Institute in London, before returning to Sweden.  He has authored and co-authored >120 scientific articles in the field of Asthma and COPD and has served as expert reviewer for leading Medical Journals and grant awarding organizations including the National Institute of Health (NIH), MRC and the Wellcome Trust, UK, and Swedish national grant organizations. Professor Erjefält´s  main interest and field of expertize is on histological approaches to explore immunopathological aspects of asthma and COPD.In parallel to his Professorship Dr Erjefalt is also founder and CEO of Medetect AB, a company focused on tissue-based target validation and new technical solutions for decoding complex immune cell patterns in inflamed tissues.
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Miquel Ferrer
Ferrer Miquel Ferrer is a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Barcelona. Specialist in respiratory medicine and leader of the research lines on noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). He studies the efficacy of NIV in patients admitted to intensive care and intermediate respiratory care, and aspects relating to risk factors, outcome, prevention and treatment of VAP. He also collaborates on the CAP and ARDS-ALI lines of the group and takes part on different multicenter studies.
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Mina Gaga
Mina Gaga Dr Gaga is Medical Director at Athens Chest Hospital and also heads the Asthma Center and 7th Respiratory Medicine Department of the Hospital. She is involved in clinical research, particularly in severe asthma, in medical education and advocacy and in public health. She is the author of highly cited papers and has participated/lead international task forces. She has served as ERS School Director of Learning Resources, Secretary of the European Board of Accreditation in Pneumology (EBAP) and Secretary General of the ERS.
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Aleksandra Górska – Rising Star
gorska-rising-copd Aleksandra Górska is assistant in Pneumonology and Allergology Department at the Medical University of Gdansk. In 2009 she joined the research group led by Professor Ewa Jassem and Professor Marek Niedoszytko focused on the mastocytosis. Especially interested in allergic diseases, mainly anaphylaxis and other symptoms result from mast cell activation as well as the pathophysiology, diagnostic procedures and the treatment of this disease. Mainly interested in gene expression changes in this disease and trying to find the diagnostic assessment which may be useful in clinical practice to predict the presence of mastocytosis and the risk of anaphylaxis in patients with mastocytosis. The PhD thesis on this topic was defended in 2014. Currently research has been continued.
She is also an active participant in many international conferences focused on allergic and respiratory system diseases.
She has been awarded by the price of Polish Allergological Association during XII International Congress of Polish Allergological Association, Poland in 2015, for oral and poster presentations and rector of Medical University of Gdansk Team Award for the research on mastocytosis in 2013.
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Stephen Holgate
Stephen Holgate Stephen Holgate is Medical Research Council Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine, Southampton, UK. He set up a research group focused on the mechanisms of asthma. He has utilized many approaches to study this disease including epidemiology, genetics, pathology, microbiology and immunology, pharmacology and experimental medicine. This research has informed guidelines on asthma management and has identified and validated novel therapeutic targets. Notable research contributions include the role of mast cells and their mediators in asthma and allied disorders, the regulation and pharmacology of mast cells, placing inflammation at the core of asthma pathophysiology, uncovering the role of respiratory viruses, allergens and pollutants in asthma exacerbation, the discovery of defects in innate immune responses in asthmatic airways, mechanisms of airway wall remodeling and the discovery of novel asthma susceptibility genes such as ADAM33. He is a Past President of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and British Thoracic Society, Chairs the MRC Translational Research Group and the ERS Science Council.
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Maria Gabriella Matera
matera-speaker-copd Maria Gabriella Matera is Professor of Pharmacology at the Medical School of the Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy and Visiting Professor at the Sackler Institute of Pulmonary Pharmacology, GKT School of Biomedical Sciences, London, UK. She is author of more than 300 papers mainly focused on Pulmonary Pharmacology. She serves as an Associate Editor of Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics and is a member of the Editorial Board of Drugs & Aging, Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, COPD – Research and Practice, Scientifica, and International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology
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Marc Miravitlles
Miravitlles Marc Miravitlles is a pulmonologist working in clinical research in the Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, Spain. His primary research interests include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (AAT), lung defence mechanisms and respiratory infections.
He serves on various medical committees and is a member of numerous professional societies, including the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), where he served as Secretary from 1999 until 2003 and as responsible for International Relationships from 2006 to 2011. Dr. Miravitlles has acted as chair of the Respiratory Infections group of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) from 2008 to 2011. He has acted as a consultant for the development of different international guidelines of COPD, such as the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society task force on outcomes in COPD. He was also a consultant of the Spanish Ministry of Health for the development of the National Strategy against COPD (2009 onwards). He is the coordinator of the Spanish National Guidelines for COPD (GesEPOC 2012 and update 2014). Dr Miravitlles has published numerous articles in a number of peer-reviewed international medical journals largely related to COPD, infection in COPD and alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.
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Letizia Corinna Morlacchi – Rising Star
morlacchi-risingstar-copd2016 School of specialty in Respiratory Medicine (Scuola di specialità in Malattie
dell’apparato respiratorio)
Residency in Respiratory Diseases Department
IRCCS Fondazione Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico di Milano
Several Investigators’ meetings attendance.
Sub-investigator in clinical trials conducted according to ICH-GCP
She was awarded an ERS fellowship, for which she is  currently spending these months in Hannover at MHH.
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Alberto Papi
Alberto Papi is full professor of Respiratory Medicine and Director of the Section of Respiratory Diseases of the Department of Clinical And Experimental Medicine of the University of Ferrara at S. Anna University Hospital, Ferrara, I. Alberto Papi received doctorate in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Ferrara in 1986 (full marks and honors), Board in Respiratory Medicine and Phthisiology at the University of Parma in 1991 (full marks and honors). He has been a Visiting Scientist at the Nebraska Medical Centre, School of Medicine Pulmonary and Critical Care Section (1990) and Clinical Research Fellow at University Medicine of Southampton (U.K.) from 1994 to 1997. Since 1998 he is Honorary Clinical Lecturer at University Medicine of Southampton (U.K.).
The Section of Respiratory Medicine directed by Prof. Papi has a clinical ward of 14 beds, a thoracic endoscopic Unit, Pulmonary lung function laboratories, Day Hospital, Outpatient Clinics, and a Respiratory rehabilitation Unit. About 500 patients are admitted to the clinical ward every year, and see about 2000 out patients/year, many of which with obstructive lung diseases. The Research Centre on inflammatory and smoking related respiratory diseases (CEMICEF) represents the research core of the Section. It is equipped for the conduction both of clinical trials and of pre-clinical (basic science) research on obstructive lung disorders.
Prof. Papi served as Secretary of the Respiratory Infections Group of the European Respiratory Society.
Since 2014 he is Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Sciences and Deputy Director of the School of Medicine of the University of Ferrara. He is Member of the Asthma Board of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He his member of the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the Journal of COPD and peer Reviewer of several prestigious journals.
The principal field of research is airway inflammation in asthma and COPD, its molecular mechanisms and pharmacological modulation. He studied with particular interest the role of respiratory viral infections in stable/exacerbated obstructive lung diseases, and the underlying molecular and immunological mechanisms. He coordinated several studies, particularly in asthma and COPD and he has given presentations at national and international meetings. He has published more than 200 original articles in peer reviewed journals and several publications in non-peer reviewed journals.
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Massimo Pistolesi
Pistolesi Massimo Pistolesi is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence.
He is the Director of the Postgraduate School of Respiratory Medicine, University of Florence, Pisa and Siena.
Massimo Pistolesi is Co-author of more than 400 publications in domestic and foreign journals, books, book chapters, and proceedings of congresses.
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Carlos Robalo Cordeiro
Carlos Robalo Cordeiro Carlos Robalo Cordeiro is a specialist in Pulmonology at the Coimbra University Hospital in Portugal, a position he has held since 1992. Since 2003 he has also been the Coordinator of the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques Unit in the Department of Pulmonology and Allergology. He has also been Professor of Pneumology at Coimbra Medical School since 1996 and Chair of the Pneumology Department since 2010.
Professor Robalo Cordeiro is an active member of several professional societies. He has been President of the Portuguese Society of Pulmonology since 2010, Chairman of the ERS Group for Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease since 2008 and an Executive Committee member of the World Association of Sarcoidosis and other Granulomatous Disorders since 2011. He is also a coordinator for the Center of Pulmonology research unit for the Portuguese Ministry of Science and has been an ERS council member since 2008.
Professor Robalo Cordeiro was Chairman of the 10th International Conference on Bronchoalveolar Lavage, held in Portugal in June 2006. He has published several papers in high impact factor journals, and is a peer reviewer and Board member of several international journals. He has received a number of awards during his career, including the Thomé Villar Award from the Portuguese Society of Pulmonology in 1988, 1993 and 1998, and the Morgagni Award from the Associazione Morgagni Malattie Polmonari in 2009.
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Nicolas Roche
Nicolas Roche Nicolas Roche is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Paris Descartes University, and the Department of Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine, Cochin-Broca-Hôtel-Dieu Hospital Group, Paris, France, and a researcher at Paris Descartes University. He graduated in medicine in 1994 and obtained his PhD in 2003. His major areas of interest are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and inhaled therapy. Professor Roche is a member of the GOLD scientific Committee and a steering committee member of the Respiratory Effectiveness Group. He participated in the development of the French guidelines on asthma and education of asthmatic adults, and coordinates the production of the French guidelines on COPD. Professor Roche has authored or co-authored more than 200 book chapters and articles in the respiratory disease arena. He is a member of the Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française, the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society, and is past-Chief Editor of Revue des Maladies Respiratoires and Associate Editor of European Respiratory Review and The Clinical Respiratory Journal.
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Pierachille Santus
1994-1996: Student fellow, Institute of Lung Disease, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, (Director: Prof. Luigi Allegra)
1995: Student fellow, Surgery Emergency Department, General Hospital of Bergamo, Italy
November 1996-2000: M.D. fellowship in Lung Disease at the Respiratory Unit, Institute of Biomedical Science San Paolo Hospital, University of Milan (Director: Prof. Stefano Centanni)
December 2000-2004: Ph. D. fellowship in Molecular Medicine at the Pharmacology Laboratory, Medicine Surgery and Odontology Department, University of Milan, San Paolo Hospital (Director: Prof.ssa Anna Maria Di Giulio)
Since 2001: Medical Assistant in Departmental Respiratory Unit, University of Milan at the San Paolo Hospital (Director: Prof. Stefano Centanni) Since 2008 Researcher of Respiratory Medicine at the Science of Health Department of the University of Milan
Since 2009: Head of Respiratory Rehabilitation Unit at the Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri – Rehabilitation Scientific Center – IRCCS – of Milan
Since 1998: collaborates in the research activity with the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Centre for Cardiopulmonary Pharmacology of the University of Milan (Director: Prof. G. Folco and Prof. A. Sala)
Since 2000: collaborates in the research activity with the Bioengineering Centre of the Politecnico University of Milan, School of Engineering (Director: Prof. Antonio Pedotti) and in collaboration with the Prof. P.T. Macklem
Since 2003: active collaboration in the research activity with the Human Physiology Institute of the University of Milan(Director: Prof Edgardo D’Angelo)
He is author of various papers on International peer-review journals about lung diseases, lung mechanics and phtaophysiology, pulmonary pharmacology and allergological contents. He has been involved, as principal investigators, in several trials according to ICHGCP
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Nicola Scichilone
schichione-copd-speakers Nicola Scichilone is currently Associate Professor in Respiratory Diseases of the Department of Biomedicine and Specialistic Medicine, University of Palermo, Italy, and Adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of Environmental Health Science of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. Dr. Scichilone is active staff of the “V. Cervello” Hospital in Palermo, where he is head of the Outpatient Clinics of Allergy and of Asthma and Respiratory Diseases. He graduated cum laude in 1992 at the School of Medicine, University of Palermo and participated to the Residence Programme in Respiratory Diseases in the period 1994-1998 at the same University. From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Scichilone was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Asthma and Allergy Center of the Division of Allergy and Immunology of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and since then, he has maintained active scientific collaborations with the Institution, as a consultant for NIH grants at the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Scichilone obtained his Ph.D on Respiratory Physiopathology at the University of Parma, Italy in 2004. He is principal investigator in clinical studies performed at the Department of Biomedicine and Specialistic Medicine in Palermo, and his main research interests are the pathogenesis of airway hyperresponsiveness and the clinical aspects of asthma and COPD. Dr. Scichilone has an excellent experience in clinical trials according to Good Clinical Practice. He is heavily engaged in teaching activities for the School of Medicine in Palermo, where he teaches Respiratory Diseases. He is member of the European Respiratory Society, the Italian Society of the Aerobiology, the Italian Respiratory Society, the Italian Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and the Italian Society of Respiratory Diseases in Geriatric Age. He is author of more than one-hunfred peer-reviewed publications and co-author of several book chapters and monographs.
Aran Singanayagam – Rising Star
aran-risingstar-copd2016 Aran Singanayagam is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London. His research interests focus on host-defence mechanisms against respiratory viruses and bacterial pathogens in chronic airway diseases, He has published extensively in the field of respiratory infections with over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Dr Singanayagam is a member of the British Thoracic Society specialist advisory group for COPD and junior representative for Assembly 10 (Infection) of the European Respiratory Society.
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Antonio Torres
Torres Antonio Torres is Director of Institut Clínic de Pneumologia i Cirurgia Toràcica of Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (from 2000) and Senior Consultant (from 2001) and was made Associate Professor (Pulmonology), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Barcelona in 1991.
He is a physician with a national and international impact and is particularly interested in pulmonary infections; pneumonia, COPD, bronchiectasia and immuno-suppressed, withdrawal of mechanical ventilation, non-invasive mechanical ventilation and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Antonio Torres published 192 reviews and guidelines.
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