Francesco Blasi, MD, FERS is Professor of Respiratory Medicine in the Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation at the University of Milan, Italy, as well as Head of Internal Medicine Department and Respiratory Unit of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy. He is also director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center of the Lombardia Regional Referral CF Center and currently a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Milan.
From 2012–2013, he was president of European Respiratory Society (ERS) and from 2016–2017 president of the Italian Respiratory Society (SIP/IRS). From 2017–2018, he was president of the Italian Respiratory Society Research Center (SIP/IRS Centro Ricerche).
Professor Blasi has published more than 350 papers in international journals (WEB of Science (01.12.2018) h-index : 50 Citations: 8620; SCOPUS (01.12.2018) : h-index:53 Citations:10680 ; Google Scholar (1.4.2019): h-index: 70, Citations: 17,668).
His research interests include pneumonia, COPD, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis and NTM infections, cystic fibrosis and lung transplantation.
Professor G. Walter Canonica is director of the Personalized Medicine Center: Asthma and Allergies at Humanitas Research Hospital in Milan (Italy).
He has been Director of the Allergy & Respiratory Diseases Clinic, Genoa University -Italy a Galen Centre of Excellence (1997-2016)
Since 1995 he is full Professor of Allergy and Respiratory Diseases, Dept of Int Medicine, Genoa 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.
He has been President of the World Allergy Association (2007-2009) and of the Italian Association for Allergology, Asthma and Immunology (2014-2017).
He personally published more than 230 scientific works on the most relevant and influent specialized journals.
Stefano Aliberti is Associate Professor in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Milan and Respiratory Consultant at the Policlinico University Hospital, Milan, Italy. He received his medical degree from the University of Milan and completed his clinical research training at the University of Louisville, KY, USA, working as member of the Community-Acquired Pneumonia Organization Database.
Most of his research over the past fifteen years has been focused on both acute and chronic respiratory infections, and particularly on community-acquired pneumonia, bronchiectasis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). He is former Head of the Respiratory Infections Assembly of the European Respiratory Society, chair of the European Registry of Bronchiectasis (EMBARC), the Italian Registry of Bronchiectasis (IRIDE) and the Italian Registry of pulmonary NTM (IRENE). He leads the Policlinico Bronchiectasis Program which includes a multidisciplinary team of physicians and respiratory physiotherapists taking care bronchiectasis, PCD and NTM patients at the Policlinico Hospital in Milan.
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.
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 200 peer reviewed articles for journals such as JAMA, 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.
Professor Tobias Welte is the Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover.
1978 -1985: Study of human medicine, Hannover Medical School
1985 – 88/90: Department of Internal Medicine, County Hospital Lehrte
1989: Residentialship, Massuchusetts General Hospital Boston, USA
1990-1994: Fellow, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School
1992: Specialist for Internal Medicine
1994: Specialist for Respiratory Medicine
1994: MD
1995: Specialist Intensive Care Medicine
2000: Habilitation for “Internal Medicineâ€
2002: Specialist for Infectious Disease Academic Appointments:
1994 – 2004 : Head of the Division of Respiratory Medicine and Intensive Care, University of Magdeburg
2003: Appointment C3 Professorship for Respiratory Medicine University of Magdeburg, not accepted
since 2004: W3-Professorship, Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School
2015: Appointment Professorship for Pneumology, University of Vienna, not accepted Other (selected) Professional Activities:
1994 – today: Project leader in more than thirty research projects funded by DFG, BMBF and EU
Since 2001: Co-ordinating board of BMBF-competence networks PROGRESS, ASCONET and CAPNETZ as well as Chairman of CAPNETZ Foundation
2007-2011: Speaker of the BMBF funded Clinical Study Center Hannover (KS-MHH)
since 2011: Member of the board of directors of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL) and director of the Hannover DZL site BREATH (Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover)
since 2011: Member of the Internal Advisory Board of the German Center of Infectious Disease Research (DZIF)
2008-2010: President of the German Society of Medical Intensive Care Medicine
2009-2015: Chief Editor of the European Respiratory Monograph
since 2008: Member, since 2012 Spokesman of DFG-Fachkollegium “Inflammationâ€
2009-2013: President of the German Sepsis Society
2012-2014 President of German Society of Pneumology
2018-2019: President of the European Respiratory Society (ERS)
Additional Information: 2014 Appointment as Fellow of the European Respiratory Society (FERS)
ANTONIA MORITA ISWARI SAKTIAWATI
Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM)
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS (TB) THROUGH AN ELECTRONIC NOSE
ARJUN KHANNA
Consultant and Head of the department Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Galaxy institute of Pulmonology, Galaxy Hospital, 5 AGCR enclave, Delhi 110092 and Yashoda Superspeciality Hospital , Kaushambi, UP.
“My primary research focuses are Interstitial Lung diseases, Advanced COPD/Respiratory failure, Pulmonary Infections, Sleep Medicine.”
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
“Differences in Tobacco smoke associated and Biomass fuel associated Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD) – A unique disease of the Indian Subcontinentâ€
Biomass fuel associated COPD is a unique subset of COPD, encountered in rural India. Most of the patients are unsuspecting non smoker, females. The diagnosis of COPD is commonly missed in these patients, they present late in the course of disease and have poor health seeking behavior.
NICOLA LORÈ
 Infections and Cystic Fibrosis Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases; Ospedale San Raffaele. Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele MILANO (Italy)
“My primary research focuses on studying immunity, with particular attention on host-pathogen interaction in the context of airway diseases. Using different model of in vivo and in vitro infections, I have demonstrated the role of IL-17/IL-17R immune axis in modulating host defense and immunopathology in the lung. Based on my skills in immunology, microbiology and genetics, my current research interests are focused on the mechanistic comprehension of the immune response during chronic respiratory disease.”
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
“The IL-17s/IL-17Rs axis in airway defense and immunopathology during chronic respiratory disease associated to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections.â€
The exaggerated inflammation and tissue damage, associated to persistent infections, are central pathological features of chronic respiratory diseases. We are interested in elucidating whether the IL-17 cytokines family may modulate chronic lung disease progression associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa persistent infections.
Isis Fernandez
Helmoltz Centrum Munich
Colombia/Germany
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
Circulating MDSC modulate IPF progression by orchestrating immunosuppressive and pro-fibrotic networks
Matteo Bradicich
Cisanello University Hospital
Pisa , ITALY
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
Assessing inflammatory patterns in asthma endotypes; new diagnostic and therapeutic perspectives
Margit V. Szabari
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care
Wellman Center for Photomedicine
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Budapest
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
Using Optical Coherence Tomography to evaluate airway dynamics in vivo
Dejan Radovanovic
School of Respiratory Diseases-University of Milan
Pulmonary Unit
Ospedale L.Sacco, ASST Fatebenefratelli-Sacco
Milan, ITALY
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
The role of bronchodilation on airway mechanical stress, lung hyperinflation and NO production in stable COPD
Aran Singanayagam
Academic Clinical Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine
Imperial College London (UK)
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
Influence of inhaled corticosteroids on host-defence and the lower respiratory tract microbiota
Letizia C. Morlacchi, MD
U.O. Broncopneumologia, Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia e dei Trapianti, IRCCS Fondazione Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico di Milano, Università degli Studi di Milano
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
Serum cytokines patterns in lung transplant recipients
Andras Bikov
Department of Pulmonology, Semmelweis University – Budapest (Hungary)
 RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
Circulating biomarkers in asthmatic pregnancy
Aleksandra Górska
Pneumonology and Allergology Department at the Medical University of Gdansk
Gdansk (Poland)
RISING STAR SESSION SCIENTIFIC WORK:
Risk factors for anaphylaxis and the differences in B3GAT1 and ITGB1 gene expression in patients with
Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Statistics Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Associate Professor, Humanitas University
Personalized Medicine Asthma & Allergy Clinic-Humanitas Research Hospital
Rozzano – MILANO
