Childhood Bronchiectasis Question Time

Ed Powell is the 17 year old chair of the recently formed ELF Youth Group and a member of the ELF Council. He has non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis and was diagnosed around eight years after first showing symptoms. Ed is passionate about advocating for lung health awareness in young people and has spoken at the EU Parliament in Brussels on the subject.

Professor Ahmed (ami) Kantar is Head of Pediatric Unit and Pediatric Asthma and Cough Center, Istituti Ospedalieri Bergamaschi (Bergamo) and a Professor at University Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan. He currently co-chairs the ERS CRC Children's Bronchiectasis Education, Advocacy and Research Network (CHILD BEAR NET) with Professor Anne Chang. He has collaborated in developing ERS guidelines on Bronchiectasis in Children.

My 17 year old son Ed was diagnosed with non cf bronchiectasis 9 years ago. Having first showed symptoms at 5 months old. I have worked since 2019 with the European Lung Foundation (ELF) as a parent patient advisory member on paediatric and adolescent non cf bronchiectasis, on the Taskforce which produced guidelines and future research priorities. Since 2021 I’ve been an active member of Child-BEAR-Net and now sit alongside Ed on the ELF Core Council.

Professor Angela Zacharasiewicz is currently Head of Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Klinik Ottakring, Teaching Hospital of the University of Vienna since 2022. She is also Head of the Working Group Paediatric Pneumology of the OGP (Austrian Society of Pneumology).

Laura Petrarca is a paediatric pulmonologist, currently working as post- Doc at Sapienza University of Rome. She post-graduated in Paediatrics in 2020, and obtained a PhD in Innovative Biomedical Technologies in Clinical Medicine in 2024 at “Sapienza” University of Rome. She has been interested in pediatric pulmonology since the start of her residency, especially in lung function, asthma, non-CF bronchiectasis and acute viral bronchiolitis.

Dr Pamela Laird is a senior paediatric respiratory physiotherapist at Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) with over 30 years of clinical experience in management of children with respiratory disease in both the USA and Australia. Pamela is also the mother of three (now grown children) all of whom had bronchiectasis. She is passionate about improving health outcomes for children and young people with bronchiectasis.

Pamela’s current clinical and research work is focused on raising awareness and preventing bronchiectasis in children. Pamela is currently co-chair of the European Respiratory Society’s taskforce on guidelines for airway clearance management for children and adolescents with chronic suppurative lung diseases and the physiotherapy lead for the Child-BEAR-Net.