Sabrina Bajwah
Institution:
King’s College London, UK
Francesco Blasi
Institution:
University of Milan and Policlinico Milan, Italy
He is Director of the Regional Referral Cystic Fibrosis Center for Lombardy and holds key academic leadership roles at the University of Milan, including Vice-Rector for Relations with the National Health Service and Dean of the School of Medicine.
Professor Blasi has held prominent positions in leading scientific societies, serving as President of the European Respiratory Society (2012–2013), the Italian Respiratory Society (2016–2017), and, since 2023, the Italian Society of Cystic Fibrosis.
He has authored over 600 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, with an h-index of 83 (Web of Science, June 2025) and 81 (Scopus).
His research focuses on respiratory infections, severe asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, and lung transplantation.
Roland Buhl
Institution:
University Hospital Mainz, Germany
Michael Dreher
Institution:
University Hospital Aachen, Germany
Prof. Michael Dreher is the Head of Department of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital Aachen.
Professional Training
2005-2012: Internship, residency, senior residency and consultant at the Department of Pneumology, University Hospital Freiburg
06/2011: German Board Certification for Internal Medicine
08/2011-12/2012: Consultant at the Department of Pneumology, University Hospital Freiburg
06/2012: German Board Certification for Pneumology
01/2013-06/2018: Head of Division of Pneumology, University Hospital Aachen
since 2014: Full Professor of Medicine / Pneumology, University Hospital Aachen
since 07/2018: Head of Department of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Aachen
Christoph Lange
Institution:
Medical Clinic Research Center Borstel and University of Lübeck, Germany
He is Honorary Professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, the University of Namibia in Windhoek and the State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Republic of Moldova in Chisinau, where he travels regularly for teaching.
Luca Richeldi
Institution:
University Hospital A. Gemelli, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy
Dr. Richeldi was also the Founder and Director of the Center for Rare Lung Diseases at the same university. From November 2005 to November 2008 he was the Director of the School of Specialization in Respiratory Medicine of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. From November 2012 he was the Deputy Dean for Education of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He serves as associate editor for the European Respiratory Journal and is a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He is a member of the Microbiology, Tuberculosis and Pulmonary Infections program committee of the American Thoracic Society (ATS). He has been part of the panels in charge of the production of the ATS-ERS guidelines on “Diagnosis of tuberculosis infection” and “Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis” and is a member and reviewer of the Cochrane Collaboration. Dr. Richeldi is a member of the Fleischner Society and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and contributed several chapters in scientific books.
Silke Ryan
Institution:
St. Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin and University College Dublin, Ireland
Silke Ryan is a consultant in respiratory and sleep medicine.
Amelia Shoemark
Institution:
University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK
Professor Amelia Shoemark is Asthma and Lung UK Chair of Respiratory Research at the University of Dundee, where she conducts a translational research program in chronic respiratory disease with a focus on bronchiectasis.
Amelia began her career as a clinical scientist at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. She set up and led a nationally funded laboratory for the diagnosis of Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a position she still holds part time.
She completed her PhD at Imperial college in 2010 investigating inflammation in the chronic respiratory condition bronchiectasis. She is an active member of the management committee of the European Bronchiectasis clinical research consortium, EMBARC and is chair of the BEAT-PCD European Respiratory Society clinical research consortium.
These translational areas of respiratory research have led to>100 peer review articles and book chapters on bronchiectasis, primary ciliary dyskinesia and mucociliary clearance.
Daiana Stolz
Institution:
University Hospital Freiburg, Germany
Daiana Stolz is Medical Director and University Professor, Clinic of Pneumology, University of Freiburg, Germany.
Els Wauters
Institution:
University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium
Els Wauters obtained her degree in Medicine in 2008 at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. In 2015, under the supervision of Prof. Diether Lambrechts (KU Leuven), she obtained her PhD degree on the analysis of the common genetic and epigenetic basis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer. In 2016, she graduated as pulmonologist at KU Leuven, after which she further specialized in respiratory oncology under the supervision of Prof. Johan Vansteenkiste. From August 2016 onwards, she works as a staff member in respiratory oncology in the University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven). Since 2018, she is also active as an assistant professor in medicine at KU Leuven. Her clinical and research interests lay in lung toxicity of cancer treatments and resistance mechanisms to targeted therapy and immunotherapy.
Marlies Wijsenbeek-Lourens
Institution:
Erasmus Medical Center, Netherlands
Marlies Wijsenbeek-Lourens is pulmonary physician at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, a national expert centre for interstitial lung diseases (ILD) in the Netherlands and member of the European Reference Network for Rare Lung Diseases (ERN-Lung). She is chair of the multidisciplinary ILD centre. Her research interests include e-health, patient centred outcome measures in ILD, cough in ILD and new therapies in ILD and sarcoidosis. Dr Wijsenbeek-Lourens is chair of group 12.01 (IIP) of the European Respiratory Society, chair of the functional committee for continued education of the ERN-Lung, member of the scientific advisory board of the European Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis & Related Disorders Federation, and Associate Editor of the European Respiratory Journal.
