speakers2

Share Buttons

October 20, 2014

CHAIRMEN

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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Peter Calverley
		Peter Calverley is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Liverpool. As President of the British Thoracic Society he established a greater engagement with patients and government while highlighting the shortfall in Respiratory academics in the UK. He used his expertise in respiratory physiology to study disease mechanisms in obstructive sleep apnoea and the respiratory consequences of neuromuscular disease with direct benefit for patient management. His influence has been greatest in the area of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) where he has developed rational therapies.
		Download COI Disclosure

Stefano 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Antonio 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Tobias 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.
		Download COI Disclosure


SPEAKERS

Stefano 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).
		Download COI Disclosure

Isabella Annesi-Maesano
		Dr Isabella Annesi-Maesano was initially educated in physics and medicine. Her training in epidemiology was completed by a PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics and post-doctoral fellowship at the Department of Public Health Sciences at St George’s Hospital, in London, UK. Since 1983 she has been a researcher at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in the field of the epidemiology of allergic and respiratory diseases, where she is presently Directeur de Recherche and Director of the Department of Epidemiology of Allergic and Respiratory Diseases (EPAR) of Institute Pierre Louis of Epidemiology and Public Health (INSERM and UPMC) in Paris.
		Download COI Disclosure

Peter Barnes
		Peter Barnes is Margaret Turner-Warwick Professor of Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Head of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College and Honorary Consultant Physician at Royal Brompton Hospital, London. He qualified at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and was appointed to his present post in 1987. In 2007, he became the first respiratory researcher to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for over 150 years. He has been the most highly cited researcher in COPD over the last 20 years. He was President of the European Respiratory Society 2013/2014.
		Download COI Disclosure

Vito 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Giorgio Walter 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Mario Cazzola
		Mario Cazzola is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Director of the Postgraduate School of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Rome, Italy, where he is also Chief of the Respiratory Clinical Pharmacology Unit. He is Honorary Professor at the Sackler Institute of Pulmonary Pharmacology, GKT School of Biomedical Sciences, London, UK. He is the author or co-author of more than 500 scientific papers. He serves as the Editor-in-chief for Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, and for COPD – Research and Practice, an Associate Editor for Respiratory Medicine, for Respiratory Research, and for Clinical Investigation, and a Section Editor for The Open Respiratory Medicine Journal.
		Download COI Disclosure

James 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Pascal Chanez
		Pascal Chanez is Professor in the Department of Respiratory Diseases at the University of Aix-Marseille, France. His research interests focuses on the Role of bronchial epithelium and its relation to allergy and environment in chronic severe bronchial diseases.
		Download COI Disclosure

Vincent Cottin
		Vincent Cottin is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, University of Lyon, and respiratory physician in the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Reference Center for Orphan Lung Disorders, Lyon, France. He has published widely on interstitial lung diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis as well as other rare and orphan lung diseases. He has served for several years as an associate editor of the European Respiratory Journal. Vincent Cottin is currently chief editor of the European Respiratory Review.
		Download COI Disclosure

Ernesto Crisafulli
		Ernesto Crisafulli, who is a postdoctoral researcher in Respiratory Physiopathology at University of Parma (Italy). Once he finished the Degree in Medicine, he achieved the specialization in Respiratory Medicine and then he did the PhD in experimental Respiratory Physiopathology. He published several clinical original articles in the management and treatment of acute and chronic respiratory disease. Recently he decided to acquire experience in experimental research, specifically in the animal model.
		Download COI Disclosure

Pilar de Lucas Ramos
		CV and COI Disclosure soon available


Fabiano 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Oliver Eickelberg
		Prof. Dr. Oliver Eickelberg, FERS, is the Founding Director of the translational research centre “Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC)”, Vice Chairman of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), and Director of the Institute for Lung Biology and Disease (iLBD) at the Helmholtz Zentrum München. He holds a professorship for Experimental Pneumology at the University Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) and was honored with the Gay-Lussac-Humboldt-Award in 2013. The main foci of Dr Eickelberg’s research activities are signaling pathways that mediate the onset, progression, or perpetuation of chronic lung diseases, in particular pulmonary fibrosis or COPD. Dr. Eickelberg is actively engaged in defining biomarker sets for these diseases that will enable to stratify subgroups of these diseases.”
		Download COI Disclosure

Miquel 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Guy Joos
		Professor Guy Joos was born in Ostend, Belgium (17.01.1956). He attended the University of Ghent where he graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1980, magna cum laude. After graduating he was trained in Internal Medicine and in Pulmonary Medicine at the Ghent University Hospital. He was Board certified in Internal Medicine in 1985 and in Pulmonary Medicine in 1990. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1988, with a thesis entitled “The role of neuropeptides in the pathogenesis of asthma” (promotors: Prof Dr M Van Der Straeten and Prof Dr R Pauwels). He is Full Professor of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Ghent University, Belgium since 1999, Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, since 2004. The main research interest of Prof Joos is translational and clinical research in asthma and COPD. His research is performed in the Translational Lab for Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (prof Joos, prof Brusselle, 3 postdocs, 8 PhD students and 7 technicians) and the clinical department (with 1 research nurse and 4 datamanagers). Prof Joos is author or coauthor of more than 250 articles, of which 170 articles published in peer-reviewed international journals. His h-index is 39. Since 1998 he was promotor of 14 PhD theses in the field of translational research in asthma and COPD. He has lectured both at national and international meetings on asthma, COPD, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and neuropeptides.Professor Joos has been president of the Belgian Thoracic Society from 2010-2012. He is an active member of the European Respiratory Society since 1990. He was Head of the group (5.2) “Airway regulation and provocation” within the Assembly Allergy and Clinical Immunology of the ERS, Chair of the ERS Task Force on Indirect Challenges (published in 2003), Chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee of Assembly 5 (2003 to 2007), Secretary of the ERS Assembly Airway Diseases (2008-2010) and ERS Treasurer (2010-2013). On 9 th september 2014 he was elected as vice-president of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and will be ERS President from sept 2016 to sept 2017.
		Download COI Disclosure

Bo Lundback
		Bo Lundback is Professor of Respiratory Epidemiology at the Institute of Medicine/Krefting Research Centr, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is affiliated to Dept of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy at the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, University of Umea, Sweden, and the Dept of Research and Development at the County Council of Norrbotten, Lulea, Sweden. Bo Lundback’s research mainly focuses on large scale population studies of respiratory epidemiology. He has been head of the Assembly of Occupation and Epidemiology at the European Respiratory Society (ERS). He has more than 170 publications in PubMed.
		Download COI Disclosure

Rosario Menendez
		CV and COI Disclosure soon available


Marc 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. He is currently guidelines director elected of the European respiratory Society. Dr Miravitlles has published over 300 articles in a number of peer-reviewed international medical journals largely related to COPD, infection in COPD and alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.
		Download COI Disclosure

Jean Louis Pepin
		Jean Louis Pepin is the Responsable Doctor of the University Clinic of physiology, sleep and exercise, Grenoble, France.
		Download COI Disclosure

Massimo 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.
		Download COI Disclosure

Eva Polverino
		Doctor of Medicine in Cardiorpulmonary Pathophysiology from the University of Pisa (Italy). Specialist in respiratory medicine she is involved in the field of respiratory infections and particularly in Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP), noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB) and humoral immuno-deficiencies. She investigates epidemiology, risk factors, outcome, treatment and prevention of the most relevant respiratory infections. The results of her research are aimed at investigating pathogenetic mechanisms of respiratory infections, improving their clinical outcomes and patients’ quality of life.
		Download COI Disclosure

Klaus F. Rabe
		Klaus F. Rabe is Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Kiel and Director of the Department of Pneumology at Clinic Grosshansdorf. He has been active in various fields of Respiratory Medicine worldwide, predominantly asthma, COPD and lung cancer. Professor Rabe has served on various editorial boards, was the first European Associate Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and has been Chief Editor of the European Respiratory Journal until recently. His current scientific interests are related to large clinical trials in COPD and asthma, the mechanisms of airway inflammation, and the endoscopic staging of lung cancer.
		Download COI Disclosure

Roberto Rodríguez-Roisin
		Roberto Rodríguez-Roisin is Professor of Medicine and Chair at the University of Barcelona, and Senior Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. He qualified at and obtained his doctorate from the Universitat de Barcelona. He completed his medical training in pulmonary medicine at the Brompton Hospital, London, UK and was postodctoral researcher at the University of California, SanDiego (UCSD). His areas of major interest are the pathophysiology and pathobiology of chronic obstructive airway diseases (COPD) and he has been awarded several national and international distinctions for the academic and scientific achievements of his team. Professor Rodríguez-Roisin has over 550 publications to his name.
		Download COI Disclosure

Joan B Soriano
		Joan B Soriano is Group Director of Respiratory Epidemiology at the Health Research Institute of Palma de Mallorca (IdISPa) of the Health Research Foundation of the Balearic Islands (FISIB), located at the University Hospital Son Espases, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Joan holds his M.D. and Ph.D. in Medicine from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and completed his education in Epidemiology with a Master of Science in Epidemiology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a post-doctoral stay at the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, in Baltimore, USA. After ten years in the IMIM in Barcelona, Joan went to industry, joining GlaxoWellcome in the UK in 1998. Later he was Director of the Department of Epidemiology at GlaxoSmithKline R & D, first in the UK and from 2003 to 2005 in the US. Back to Spain, Joan was Director of Epidemiology and Clinical Research in the now extinct Caubet-CIMERA Foundation, International Centre for Advanced Respiratory Medicine, located in Bunyola, Mallorca, since its founding in 2005 until its closure in December 2013. Since 2007 he is Associate Editor of the European Respiratory Journal, and has over 170 publications in PubMed in the fields of clinical epidemiology and treatment of respiratory diseases, totaling more than 7,000 citations and a Hirsch index of 42. Joan is Director of the Foreign Affairs Committee (COMRI) of SEPAR, and recently was co-Chair of the CHEST World Congress 2014. He spends most of his time dedicated to research on COPD and other respiratory conditions, aging and tobacco, the design of new clinical trials and Translational Medicine. In May 2011 he received the Josep Trueta Award for scientific and medical achievements, and in September 2014 he was appointed Foundational Fellow of the ERS (FERS).
		Download COI Disclosure

Jorgen Vestbo
		Professor Vestbo shares his time between Manchester and Copenhagen (Denmark) where he is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at University of Copenhagen and Consultant at Gentofte University Hospital. Professor Vestbo is currently President-Elect of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). Professor Vestbo’s academic work focuses on clinical epidemiology of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the management of this disease, including the impact on treatment on the natural history of COPD. Professor Vestbo has authored or co-authored more than 300 articles in the major medical journals and contributed with chapters to several major textbooks. He has given invited lectures on epidemiology and management of COPD at international meetings.
		Download COI Disclosure

Wisia Wedzicha
		Wisia Wedzicha is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London UK. She qualified from Somerville College, Oxford University and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, University of London. She was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2013 and is a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. Professor Wedzicha has a major interest in the causes, mechanisms, impact and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations, and in the role of bacterial and viral infection in COPD exacerbation. She directs an active research group specializing in COPD exacerbations, and has published extensively on this topic. Professor Wedzicha was a member of the Guideline Development Group for the revision of the National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (NICE) COPD Guidelines (2010). She was a member of the Programme Board for the English COPD National Clinical Strategy and chaired the Department of the Health Home Oxygen Clinical User Group,. Professor Wedzicha was Editor-in-Chief of Thorax from 2002 to 2010, and is a member of the BioMed Central advisory board. She is an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM) and has been appointed Chief Editor of AJRCCM from January 2015. Until September 2014, she was Chair of the Publications Committee of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and has also previously been ERS Guidelines Director.
		Download COI Disclosure

Emiel Wouters
		Emiel Wouters became Full Professor and chairman of the Department of Respiratory Medicine of the University Hospital Maastricht in 1992. He is currently involved in research into inflammation and multi-component pathology of COPD. He is director of the Centre for Chronic Diseases of the Maastricht University Medical Centre, CEO of the Centre for Integrated Rehabilitation of Chronic Organ Failure (CIRO Horn). He published as (co)author more than 550 papers in scientific journals, largely related to COPD, and over 50 book chapters.
		Download COI Disclosure