The 2nd in our series of air pollution and climate change patient conferences.
On Thursday 23 January 2025, we will explore the connection between air pollution, climate change and lung health. This is part of our ongoing efforts to raise awareness of steps we can take to improve air quality.
Our Breathe Clean Air patient conference is open to all with an interest in the environment and public health. We will be joined by experts and patient speakers on the day who will discuss the latest research around air pollution and climate change and share their experiences.
Topics that will be covered in the session include:
By attending this event, the audience will learn:
Attendees will have the opportunity to ask the speakers questions during each session using the event Q&A box.
Phil has lived with asthma for over 60 years. He has experience in public health research with the National Institute for Health Research as an Assistant Director and has volunteered as a patient representative for Asthma UK.
Phil has worked alongside the British Thoracic Society, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network to produce UK guidelines on diagnosing, monitoring and managing asthma.
Barbara Hoffmann is a Professor of Environmental Epidemiology at the Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf in Germany. Her research focuses on the investigation of acute and chronic cardiopulmonary, metabolic, and neurological health effects of air pollution and noise. She is also a founding member and past Chair of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Europe (ISEE) Chapter.
Zorana J Andersen is a Professor in Environmental Epidemiology at the Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen. Zorana is also the former Chair of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Environment and Health Committee. She has previously researched the health effects of air pollution, road traffic noise, climate change and studied the interactions between air pollution and physical activity.
Mark Nieuwenhuijsen is a Research Professor and expert in environmental exposure assessment, epidemiology and health risk/impact assessment. He has interests in healthy urban living and is the Director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Mark is also the Head of their Climate, Air Pollution and Urban Health Programme.
Panagiota-Maria Triantfyllopoulou, 16 years old, is currently a high school student who is passionate about dancing, travelling and raising awareness on sustainability and protecting the environment. At an early age she was diagnosed with severe asthma and has been living with symptoms her entire life.
Panagiota-Maria is part of the European Lung Foundation Youth Group and is actively involved in raising awareness and empowering young people living with a lung condition
Ulrike Gehring is the Chair of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Environment and Health Committee. She is also an Associate Professor at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Her research focusses on the impact of the environment on child health, with a special focus on the long-term health effects of ambient air pollution and the determinants of asthma and allergies.
Kåre Press-Kristensen holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering, Ph.D., and HD(A).
He has been teaching air pollution at the Technical University of Denmark for 20 years. He has been project leader on many international projects to reduce air and climate pollution and has performed measuring campaigns to document and quantify air pollution in many countries.
To satisfy his interest of both indoor and outdoor air pollution, he currently works as senior advisor on air quality half time in two non-profit NGOs: Green Global Future and Healthy Indoor Environment. His work covers air pollution from shipping, wood burning, road traffic, non-road machinery, and aircrafts focused on emissions, ambient air quality and the connected risks/costs to public health.
Contact info: kpk@greenglobalfuture.org
Natalia Maeva is part of the European Lung Foundation (ELF) Council and since 2018 a Deputy Chair of the Bulgarian association of the patients with respiratory failure and lung transplantation. She herself was diagnosed with PAH in 2009 and underwent a double lung transplantation in 2016 at AKH Vienna, Austria. She is also active in the PAG on COVID-19 at ELF and member of the European Respiratory Advisory group. Last but not least, she was the previous Vice President of the Bulgarian National Patient Organization.
Contact info: n.maeva@phaeurope.org
The conference will be held in English. A live transcription service will allow participants to generate captions in over 50 languages.
The Breathe Clean Air Patient Conference 2025 focussed on what we can do to improve air quality within our cities and workplaces. We were joined by a number of patient speakers and healthcare professionals who discussed their experiences and the latest research.
ELF does not charge for its events and materials. We want to make sure they are available to anybody who wishes to join or use them. To ensure we can keep doing this we ask that those who can afford to pay to make a donation. We are grateful to everyone who supports us in this way and helps lung health patients to understand more about their condition and have their voices heard.
