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

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.

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.

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.

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 Medicine”
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 “Inflammation”
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)