ELF/EMBARC Bronchiectasis Patient Conference 2022

Member of ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group

Member of ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group

Barbara Crossley has been a member of the ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group since 2017.

She has helped organise four Bronchiectasis Patient Conferences, collaborated with EMBARC researchers on ongoing projects, helped formulate patient surveys and patient-friendly information for the European Lung Foundation website, including a patient self-care guide.

She has lifelong bronchiectasis and is a writer who lives in the Peak District in Derbyshire, UK.

Member of ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group.

Dr Pieter Goeminne is a respiratory physician in Saint-Nicholas, Belgium.

His PhD defence was in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. He is co-author of many publications on the topic of bronchiectasis, such as the ERS bronchiectasis guidelines.

He is also Board member of the European bronchiectasis registry EMBARC and regular reviewer for high impact journals on bronchiectasis. His further professional interests include air pollution and infectious disease.

Lucy is a lung specialist working in Sydney. She was the foundation chair of the Australasian Bronchiectasis Consortium and the Australian Bronchiectasis Registry and is now Chair of Lung Foundation Australia. She is passionate about empowering patients to have equity of access to great clinical care and great clinical trials, wherever they live.

Stefano Aliberti is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Milan, and consultant at the Respiratory Department and Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center at the Policlinico Hospital in Milan, Italy. He is the director of the Bronchiectasis, Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia programs of the Policlinico Hospital.

His major clinical and research interests are in both acute and chronic respiratory infections. He has extensive experience in epidemiological and clinical research in pneumonia.

He has been heavily involved in bronchiectasis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. He founded the European Bronchiectasis Registry (EMBARC). Prof. Aliberti has published up to 200 peer-reviewed articles mainly on respiratory infections and he was part of international task forces to produce guidelines on bronchiectasis and severe pneumonia, as well as statements on tuberculosis.

Professor James Chalmers is the British Lung Foundation Chair of Respiratory Research at the University of Dundee, UK, and a consultant respiratory physician.

He is an expert in lung infections and has been involved in a number of projects during the COVID19 pandemic, including leading the ERS Guidelines Task Force for COVID19, being chief investigator for several trials of new COVID19 treatments and answering many of the questions received for the ELF Q&A.

He works closely with ELF to involve patients in respiratory infection research through projects such as EMBARC, and is an advocate for involving patients in guidelines, clinical research, and clinical trials.

Dr Arietta Spinou is a Lecturer in Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy Practice and Research at King’s College London, UK. She is a Specialist Respiratory Physiotherapist and has extensive research experience, with a special interest in bronchiectasis.

As part of her PhD work, Dr Spinou developed the Bronchiectasis Health Questionnaire, and for the first time objectively assessed cough frequency in a group of people with bronchiectasis.
Currently, Dr Spinou co-leads the ERS Task Force for the airway clearance techniques in bronchiectasis.

Ellen De Wit is a dietician at Vitaz hospital in Belgium with over a decade experience and a special interest in nutrition and diet in respiratory diseases.

Professor Francesco Pagnini is a Professor in Clinical Psychology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, in Milan (Italy). He had been at Harvard University for about 10 years. His primary research interest is focused on the relationship between mind and body; in particular, he tries to use psychological knowledge and techniques to change the impact of some chronic diseases, with a specific focus on respiratory diseases. He’s a renowned expert of mindfulness and relaxation techniques, and in this field he collaborates with NASA and the European Space Agency. He was Visiting Professor at Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and Visiting Researcher at University of Cambridge (UK). He’s author of more than 120 scientific articles and speaker at numerous international conferences.

Dr Josje Altenburg works as a pulmonologist at the Amsterdam University Medical Centres, where she is involved in clinical care of patients with Cystic Fibrosis, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia, bronchiectasis and other infectious lung diseases.

She participates in national and international guideline development, national education of physicians, and in international working groups in bronchiectasis, education of physicians, and in international working groups in bronchiectasis.

Since obtaining her degree in pharmacy from the University of Brighton in the UK, Connie Takawira has spent time working as a clinical pharmacist both in the UK and overseas in New Zealand. Of the 9 years she worked in New Zealand, 7 were spent at Canterbury District health board where she specialised in respiratory medicine, and served as a member of the antimicrobial stewardship committee. She has previously attended the North American Cystic Fibrosis conference as a guest speaker, co-chair and round table host. Connie holds a Masters in Global Health which she obtained in 2019 from the University Gothenburg and up until recently, she worked as the lead cystic fibrosis pharmacist that the Liverpool Heart and Chest hospital in the UK. She has just taken up a new post as a partnership manager at Medicines Discovery Catapult, a not-for-profit organisation based at Alderly Park, UK. In her new role, Connie oversees the CF AMR syndicate, an initiative harnessing cross sector collaborative partnerships to drive and accelerate medicines discovery for the treatment of pulmonary infections

Amelia Shoemark is a Researcher at the University of Dundee. Her research focuses on bronchiectasis with a specialist interest is in the role of cilia in the lungs. She is part of the EMBARC2 committee where she leads the EMBARC BRIDGE project. An international project to understand different types of infection and inflammation in the lungs in bronchiectasis in order to try to target the right treatments to the right people.

Amelia conducted her PhD at Imperial College London and trained as a clinical scientist at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London where she continues to lead the diagnostic laboratories for the inherited disorder Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia.

Michal Shteinberg received her MD and a PhD in biochemistry from the Technion-Israel institute of technology. She trained in internal medicine and pulmonology, with a Fellowship in bronchiectasis and adult CF.

Prof. Shteinberg is Head of Bronchiectasis and Adult Cystic Fibrosis Unit, Carmel Medical Center, and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, the B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel.

She is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Faculty of medicine at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and a member of the executive committee of the Israeli Society for Tuberculosis and mycobacterial diseases.

Her main research interests are bronchiectasis and its overlap with other airway diseases, mainly rhinosinusitis, and connective tissue diseases, as well as adult CF.

Prof. Shteinberg is a member of EMBARC management and heading Patient Activities Work package.

Member of ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group

Member of ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group

Member of ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group

Member of the ELF Bronchiectasis Patient Advisory Group