The search begins for the next ELF Chair 2023-2026

The current ELF Chair – Kjeld Hansen – is due to finish his mandate in September 2023. This will bring to an end his 3-year mandate, during which he has already achieved many of the ambitious goals for ELF that were outlined in the strategy in 2020.

The ELF Chair plays a vital role in setting the bigger vision for respiratory patients in Europe, driving forward the organisation and its partners, ensuring that ELF delivers for patients and patient organisations, developing its relationship with the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and raising its visibility to the public at large.

The last three Chairs of ELF have been patients:

• Dan Smyth from Ireland, who had sleep apnoea;
• Isabel Saraiva from Portugal, who has COPD; and
• Kjeld, who is from Denmark living in Norway and has asthma.

We look forward to seeing another ELF Chair ready to lead positive changes for respiratory health for patients in Europe for the next 3 years.

The process for finding the next Chair begins now and we hope that you can help us to find them!

Are you or is someone you know passionate about public and patient involvement, interested in patient education, able to engage in advocacy at the EU level and interested in raising awareness about lung health? Have you been involved in committees and activities of ELF already and are inspired to step up and lead?

All candidates for the ELF Chair 2023-2026 should be a patient or someone with lived experience of a lung condition. They should be a team player, prepared for some travel and ready to be part of the ERS leadership representing the needs of the patient community. The full role description and requirements can be found here.

Please feel free to contact the current ELF Chair (kjeld.hansen@europeanlung.org) or the ELF Director (pippa.powell@europeanlung.org) with any questions about the role.

If you are interested in being considered, please send a CV and covering letter outlining the reasons that you feel you are suitable for the post and your vision for the post and the future of ELF to elections@ersnet.org by 18 November 2022. All applications will be reviewed, a shortlist will be made and one to one interviews will be held in December 2022. The role will commence in January 2023 with the opportunity to shadow the current chair for 8 months before taking over at the ERS Congress in Milan in September 2023.

We are so excited to meet our next Chair – could it be you?! The Chair should, to the widest possible extent, represent people living with lung disease. ELF encourages all qualified candidates to apply.