The 3rd Congress of
INternational Society of
Pediatric REspiratory Diseases
The Only Global Congress Focused on Pediatric Respiratory Diseases
26-29 JUNE 2025 | BARCELONA, SPAIN
Confirmed Speakers
Savvas Andronikou
CYPRUS
Savvas Andronikou
Savvas Andronikou (MBBCh, FCRad, FRCR, PhD UCT, PhD Wits) is a paediatric radiologist and paediatric neuroradiologist, and is faculty of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with a special interest in imaging infections. He has work experience in South Africa, Australia, in Europe and the USA. He has published over 400 peer reviewed papers many of which focus on imaging of Tuberculosis in children.
Adaeze C. Ayuk
NIGERIA
Adaeze C. Ayuk
Adaeze C. Ayuk is a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, and a Sub- specialist in Paediatric Pulmonology from the University of Cape Town South Africa, with Distinction. She has had Respiratory clinical trainings at Guys and St Thomas Hospital London (Prof Bateman), the Queen Mary University/Barts and the London Hospital (Prof Grigg) and the Royal Brompton Hospital London (Prof Bush).
She won the 2011 American Thoracic Society (ATS) small grant award and the young investigators award of the Conference of International Paediatric Pulmonologist (CIPP) in 2012. She has also won the Buist Pathway to Leadership award (BPLA) in 2021 and is the current co-lead Level 2 Faculty for PATS-MECOR research course programe. She serves as an official in the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (National Treasurer), the Nigerian Thoracic Society (Vice President) and the immediate past assembly secretary European Respiratory Society.
She is the Sectional Editor for Paediatrics in the Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice (NJCP) and also for Journal of the Pan African Society (JPATS). She has over 90 peer-reviewed publications. She is currently a Professor of Paediatrics and a Consultant Paediatric Pulmonologist at the University of Nigeria (UNN).
Miriam Barrecheguren-Fernández
SPAIN
Miriam Barrecheguren-Fernandez
Miriam Barrecheguren is a pneumologist working at Vall d´Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona. She graduated in Medicine at the University of Santiago de Compostela in 2008. After her training in Respiratory Medicine, she obtained her PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2016 on the diagnosis and management of COPD and AATD in Primary Care. Afterwards, she fulfilled a research fellow at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and obtained a Rio Hortega grant from the Health Institute Carlos III (Madrid, Spain). She was granted the honorary lecture for young researchers of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) in 2018.
Dr. Barrecheguren was the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Early Career Member (ECM) representative in the European Alpha-1 research collaboration (EARCO) until April 2024 and is the deputy lead of the AATD core group in the ERN-lung.
Her primary interests include COPD, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) and mechanical ventilation. She has more than 90 peer-reviewed publications indexed in PubMed.
Ronen Bar-Yoseph
ISRAEL
Ronen Bar-Yoseph
Dr. Ronen Bar-Yoseph is the director of the Pediatric Pulmonology Institute and head of the Children's Physical Activity and Exercise Clinic and Lab at Rambam Health Care Campus. His primary research focus is physical activity and gas exchange kinetics across the life span, development and standardization of exercise protocols and the use of pediatric exercise as medicine. Dr. Ronen Bar-Yoseph seeks to better understand the kinetics of oxygen consumption in healthy children and in children with different clinical conditions. His research project begins the process of systematically identifying the best protocols to use for children and young adults. Through oxygen consumption analysis, he strives to better understand how children’s bodies cope with physiological challenges that arise. This research could lead to improved and more accurate fitness assessment both in health and disease. “The key to understanding why healthy children or children with chronic diseases are limited in their physical activity lies in advanced mathematical modeling of how children use oxygen while exercising.” Dr. Bar-Yoseph has participated in a wide range of clinical and basic research projects and a co-author of the chapter on exercise and physical activity in the "Kendig's Disorders of the Respiratory Tract in Children". His main research interest are physical activity and exercise in health and chronic conditions, particularly in the pediatric population (i.e. - asthma, cystic fibrosis, childhood malignancies, and congenital heart disease) from basic research to the clinic and back, translational science and physical activity as a tool for personalized medicine (Exercise Is Medicine). He is a member of the Israel Society for Clinical Pediatrics, the Israeli Association of Pediatric Pulmonology, the Israel Society of Sports Medicine and the American College of Sport Medicine (ACSM). Dr. Bar-Yoseph is also a consultant for the UC Irvine Cardiopulmonary Center Clinical Exercise Laboratory @ Irvine, California, USA.
Quique Bassat
SPAIN
Quique Bassat
Medical doctor, specialized in Pediatrics; Tropical Medicine and Epidemiology. ICREA Research Professor and Director General at ISGlobal
As a paediatrician, Prof. Bassat’s research has always relied on the premise that there is no greater public health intervention than that which can reduce child mortality, particularly in poor contexts. To do these, he has worked in low and middle-income countries to understand and prevent infectious diseases that most impact child survival.
His work on P. falciparum malaria has contributed to better characterize the disease, and to assess treatment and prevention strategies, including vaccines and new antimalarial drugs. He has investigated in Mozambique, Morocco and the Kingdom of Bhutan the epidemiology, aetiology and clinical characteristics of pneumonia, diarrhea, Meningitis and neonatal sepsis, all major causes of premature mortality.
He has participated in the validation of a radically innovative minimally invasive autopsy sampling protocol (MITS, minimally invasive tissue sampling), now widely used globally for a less invasive (and thus more acceptable) way to investigate cause of death in LMIC. He is also very interested in the validation and evaluation of technological devices for Global health purposes.
David Biko
USA
David Biko
David M. Biko, MD, MBA, FACR, FAHA, FSCMR is an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Chief of the Body Division and Soroosh Mahboubi Endowed Chair of Pediatric Body Imaging at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). He is also the Chief of the Pediatric Section at the American College of Radiology Institute of Radiologic Pathology.
Dr. Biko has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. He went on to receive his MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine and an MBA from Penn State University.
Dr. Biko is the Cardiac Section Editor of Pediatric Radiology and has published greater than 70 original research publications along with many educational reviews, many of which relate to lymphatic imaging. He is a fellow of the American College of Radiology, American Heart Association, and Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.
Andrew Bush
UK
Andrew Bush
PROFESSOR ANDREW BUSH MD FHEA FRCP FRCPCH FERS FAPSR ATSF
Professor of Paediatrics and Paediatric Respirology, National Heart and Lung Institute, and Centre for Paediatrics and Child Health, Imperial College (Foundation Director); Consultant Paediatric Chest Physician, Royal Brompton Hospital
I qualified from Cambridge University and University College Hospital. I initially trained in adult thoracic medicine, obtaining an MD in the Department of Clinical Physiology, Brompton Hospital. I then re-trained in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at Brompton and the Royal Postgraduate Medical school. I was appointed Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician at the Brompton and Senior Lecturer at the National Heart and Lung Institute in 1991 and was made Professor at Imperial College in 2007. My research interests include the invasive and non-invasive measurement of airway inflammation in children and clinical physiology,. I have supervised more than 50 MD and PhD degrees, co-authored more than 800 papers in peer review journals, and written more than 130 chapters in books and monographs. I am Deputy Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. I have served as Guidelines Director of the European Respiratory Society and also chaired the Publications Committee. I am an emeritus NIHR Senior Investigator. Honours include the British Thoracic Society medal (2022), the 2024 James Spence Medal and an Honorary Life Fellowship of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and I am the 2024 ERS Presidential awardee. Most importantly, I have the eight greatest grandchildren in the world, Dylan and Jack in South Africa, Oscar and his twin siblings Aya and Fletcher, Lydia, Dominic and Ilyas, all in London.
Mauricio Caballero
ARGENTINA
Mauricio Caballero
Mauricio Caballero is a distinguished Argentine pediatrician and scientific researcher, currently serving as the Director of the Infant Center for Translational Medicine at the National University of San Martín. In addition, he is an esteemed researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET). His groundbreaking research focuses on prevalent pediatric respiratory diseases, including bronchiolitis, asthma, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
Jose A Catro-Rodriguez
CHILE
Jose A. Castro-Rodriguez
Jose A. Castro-Rodriguez, MD, PhD, ATSF.
He was born in Peru and graduated in Medicine from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru (1982-1987), where he also completed his residency in Pediatrics (1988-1991). He was trained as a Fellow in Pediatric Respiratory Diseases (graduated summa cum laude) at the Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (1994-1996). Later, he took a position as a visiting research scientist and Fellow in Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson, US (1997-2000).
One of his significant contributions was the creation of the Asthma Predictive Index (PMID: 11029352) with more than 1,850 citations and incorporated into several asthma guidelines. He was designed as an “ATS Fellow” (2020) and “Master of Latin American Pediatric Pulmonology” by the Latin American Pediatric Pulmonology Society (2018). He was awarded the “Worldwide Scientific Prize” from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (2002), the “Pediatric Year in Review Paper” at ATS (2001) with more than 1,370 citations (PMID: 10954761), and the “Peruvian Scientific Prize” from CONCYTEC (1993).
Currently, he is a Full Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of Research at the Department of Pediatric Pulmonology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Santiago, Chile). His main areas of interest are acute bronchiolitis, recurrent wheezing, respiratory infection diseases, and asthma in children (phenotypes, treatment, epigenetic, and fetal programming). He is frequently invited to give keynote presentations in more than 30 countries at international meetings. His research and vision are well-detailed in more than 210 papers: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=castro-rodriguez+ja&size=200.
His H-Index is 59.
Ioana Ciuca
ROMANIA
Ioana Ciuca
Ioana Ciuca is pediatric pulmonologist, Professor in Pediatrics at “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, Romania, coordinator of the Pediatric Pneumology Training programme and Head of Pediatric Pulmonology Unit at Clinical County Hospital Timisoara. After completed the Pediatrics training, she specialized in Pulmonology, being afterwards certified in Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Ultrasonography with PhD in Pediatrics. She is vicepresident of the Romanian National Cystic Fibrosis Society and Pediatric Pulmonology Section of Romanian Respiratory Society. She participated in cystic fibrosis projects, including European Centers of Reference for Cystic Fibrosis (ECORN-CF), attended training programs and courses under European Respiratory Society aegis and training at Evelina Children’s Hospital in London.
Her special interests are lung ultrasound in pediatric respiratory diseases, children pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, chronic cough and preschool wheeze. She wrote papers on pediatrics respiratory field, with focus on lung ultrasound scoring development in pneumonia and cystic fibrosis and textbooks for residents doctors in pediatric pulmonology, lung ultrasound and general pediatrics.
She is actively involved in the development of Pediatric Pulmonology Training program in Romania.
Malena Cohen-Cymberknoh
ISRAEL
Malena Cohen-Cymberknoh
Professor Malena Cohen-Cymberknoh is an Associate Professor in Pediatrics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and serves as the Director of the Pediatric Pulmonology Unit and the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Center at Hadassah Ein-Kerem and Mount Scopus Medical Center. She is an expert in Pediatric Pulmonology, and her research and clinical focus encompass Cystic Fibrosis, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia, asthma, and other chronic lung diseases.
Prof. Cohen-Cymberknoh plays a pivotal role in advancing CF research, serving as the principal investigator for numerous national and international multi-center clinical trials. She actively contributes to global collaborations and provides guidance to CF teams worldwide through dedicated teaching and training initiatives. Her expertise has been recognized internationally, with invitations since 2008 to lecture and moderate sessions at prestigious scientific conferences. Her outstanding contributions to the field have garnered numerous national and international prizes, awards, and competitive research grants. In 2024, she was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society Clinical Trial Network (ECFS-CTN), reflecting her leadership in the global CF research community.
Prof. Cohen-Cymberknoh has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications in highly regarded journals, including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, European Respiratory Journal, Thorax, Chest, Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, Respiratory Medicine, PLOS ONE, and Pediatric Pulmonology. Her work has significantly contributed to advancing the understanding and management of chronic paediatric respiratory conditions.
Alejandro Colom
ARGENTINA
Alejandro Colom
Alejandro J. Colom is a Pediatric Pulmonologist and a physician at the Respiratory Center of the R. Gutiérrez Children's Hospital in Buenos Aires. He serves as an Associate Professor of Pulmonology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, and works as an Independent Researcher for the Ministry of Health of the City of Buenos Aires. Dr. Colom is also a member of the National Pulmonology Committee of the Argentine Society of Pediatrics.
David Cornfield
USA
David N. Cornfield
David N. Cornfield earned a medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine (1986) and completed residency at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri where he was recognized as the Most Outstanding House Officer and Chief Resident (1989). He later completed his fellowship in both pediatric pulmonology and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver Children’s and National Jewish Hospital, Denver (1993).
Cornfield was appointed the first holder of the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professorship in Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in December 2005. He is director of the Center for Excellence in Pulmonary Biology, and chief of the division of pediatric pulmonary, asthma, and sleep medicine at Stanford University.
Prior to joining the faculty of Stanford University, David served as professor of pediatrics, physiology, and surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and Division Director of Pediatric Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, interim head of the Department of Pediatrics, and as the Associate Dean for Research. At Stanford University, Dr. Cornfield led the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine from 2006 through 2015,
Dr. Cornfield’s basic science research focuses on pulmonary vascular development, alveolarization, and the molecular mechanisms underlying oxygen sensing. His research has provided insight into the fundamental biology of the transition of pulmonary circulation at birth, determinants of pulmonary vascular tone, and lung development. Ongoing research includes the transcriptomics of the developing lung using single cell RNA sequencing, uterine contractility in term and preterm labor, and lung barrier function. His laboratory has been NIH funded for the past 25 years. Clinical and translational research has included work on inhaled nitric oxide, acute lung injury in infants and children, non-invasive approaches to detect organ rejection, the lung microbiome in cystic fibrosis, remote monitoring of asthma, design and creation of low-cost mechanical ventilator, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and training and retaining physician-scientists in pediatrics.
Dr. Cornfield is an active member of the American Pediatric Society (APS), American Thoracic Society, Society for Pediatric Research (SPR), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and American Physiological Society, and served previously as President of the SPR. He serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Physiology, Pediatrics, Scientific Reports, and Pulmonary Circulation. He is an active member of the peer review community including grants and manuscripts.
Dr. Cornfield is committed to training the next generation of physician-scientists and is a founding co-Director of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Physician-Scientist Training Program and Director of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Physician-Scientist Fellowship Program and co-Dorecotr of an NIH training grant. Dr. Cornfield is the recipient of numerous professional honors including the Daniel C. Darrow Award from Children’s Mercy Hospital, the Richard B. Rowe Award for outstanding achievements in perinatal cardiology from the SPR, the Established-Investigator and Clinician-Scientist Awards from the AHA, and Clinician of the Year Award from the University of Minnesota Medical School and has been recognized annually as an Outstanding Faculty Educator, “Top Pediatrician” and “Best Doctor.”
Karen Czischke
CHILE
Carlos Martin de Vicente
SPAIN
Maria Jesus del Cerro
SPAIN
Borja de Paz Vaquero
SPAIN
Ana Díez-Izquierdo
SPAIN
Ana Diez
Dr. Ana Díez is a consultant in the Paediatric Pulmonology Unit at Vall d’Hebron Hospital, in Barcelona, Spain. She has been trained as a Pediatrician and coursed a fellowship in Paediatric Pulmonologist, She coursed her PhD on the effect of the exposure of second and third hard smoke in children.
She has the the accreditation from the European Respiratory Society HERMES examination in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine. She is author of more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals and she is doing some research and collaborations about home mechanical ventilation, pulmonary hypertension, or chronic lung diseases as asthma.
Refika Ersu
CANADA
Refika Ersu
Dr. Refika Ersu is a pediatric respirologist and director of sleep laboratory and home ventilation program at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. She is also an investigator in CHEO Research Institute and Professor at University of Ottawa.
She is the previous chair of European Respiratory Society Pediatric Sleep Group and current chair of European Respiratory Society Pediatric Assembly.
Dr. Ersu completed her medical school and pediatric residency training in Istanbul, Turkey. After completing one year of research fellowship in Royal Brompton Hospital in London, UK, she did pediatric respirology fellowship in Children's Hospital Los Angeles, USA.
Her main research interests are obstructive sleep apnea in children, specifically diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea in children in resource limited settings and management of children with chronic respiratory failure.
Wojciech Feleszko
POLAND
Wojciech Feleszko
Associate Professor Wojciech Feleszko, MD, PhD is a pediatric pulmonologist and clinical immunologist affiliated with the Medical University of Warsaw. His research focuses on pediatric respiratory diseases, immunomodulation, and the environmental determinants of allergic conditions.
He has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific publications indexed in international databases (cumulative IF >400), including systematic reviews and meta-analyses in journals such as Allergy, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, and European Respiratory Reviews. His work contributed to the development of European guidelines on preschool asthma (EAACI Task Force, 2018–2025) and on the management of PIMS/MIS-C (2021–2023), coordinating international teams of clinicians and researchers.
Prof. Feleszko holds three medical specialties—pediatrics, clinical immunology, and pediatric pulmonology. He has received training and research experience in Germany, France, and the United States (including a 2023 visiting professorship at Harvard Medical School).
He continues to teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and participates in collaborative research projects across Europe and beyond.
Thomas Ferkol
USA
Thomas Ferkol
Thomas Ferkol, M.D. is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An American Lung Association Edward Livingston Trudeau Scholar and recipient of the Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia Foundation Golden Cilium Award, his research has largely focused on the development of cell and animal models to study cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia, defining genetic and molecular factors that contribute to chronic airway infection, inflammation, and epithelial injury with almost 30-years of continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Ferkol currently co-leads the NIH-supported Genetic Disorders of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium, an established, multicenter collaborative that is defining the genetics and pathophysiology of inherited, suppurative lung diseases. He has served on numerous international review groups and study sections, and written or co-authored over 200 original articles, scholarly reviews, and book chapters. Finally, Dr. Ferkol was President of the American Thoracic Society, only the second pediatrician to serve in this capacity during the 120-year history of the organization.
Erick Forno
USA
Erick Forno
Professor Erick Forno is a pediatric pulmonologist and Vice-Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.
Prof. Forno's overarching research interests include the epidemiology and genomics of asthma; studying the effects of obesity on childhood respiratory health; the use of "omics" approaches to identify predictive and response biomarkers in pediatric pulmonary diseases; and the development of AI technology to improve respiratory health for children. His research is funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF).
Silvia Gartner
SPAIN
Silvia Gartner
Silvia Gartner is a specialist in Pediatric Pulmonology. She completed her specialty in pediatrics at the Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital in Buenos Aires and pediatric pulmonology at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (HVH) in Barcelona and Sickkids Hospital in Toronto.
She is the Coordinator of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Center (HVH) in Barcelona.
She is a member of the steering committee of the "Neonatal Screening for Cystic Fibrosis" (CF) group and the "CF Standards of Care" group of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society (ECFS).
She is the principal investigator of the ECFS-Clinical Trials Network (CTN) in Barcelona and of the European Reference Network (ERN)-CF in Barcelona.
She has participated in more than 100 national and international conferences as a speaker. She is the editor of the book Cystic Fibrosis (Spanish).
Research projects as principal investigator: more than 30 CF studies.
Participation in ECFS Consensus and publication (more than 100 papers) in internationally journals.
Honored at the 46th ECFS Congress in Rotterdam, (2022), as one of the 50 most woman influential physicians in CF.
She is currently the principal investigator of the cellular models laboratory: intestinal organoids and nasal cells for personalized medicine in CF at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute.
David Gomez-Pastrana
SPAIN
David Gomez-Patrana
Dr. David Gomez-Pastrana is a senior pediatric pulmonologist with over 25 years of clinical experience in Spain and the United Kingdom, specializing in respiratory disorders such as asthma, recurrent wheezing in infants, airway diseases, and cystic fibrosis. His main clinical and research interests include pediatric tuberculosis and sleep-related breathing disorders.
He currently serves as Head of the Pediatrics Department and Director of the Clinical Management Unit at the University Hospital of Jerez, Andalusia. He also leads the Pediatric Pulmonology, Allergy, and Sleep Disorders Unit at Clínica Serman.
Dr. Gomez-Pastrana has held multiple clinical fellowships in pediatric respiratory medicine and cystic fibrosis at leading UK hospitals, including Evelina London Children’s Hospital and Royal London Hospital. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cádiz and has extensive involvement in medical education and pediatric residency training.
He holds a PhD in Medicine from the University of Seville, where he received the university’s highest doctoral award, and has pursued advanced training in pediatric clinical trials, health economics, biostatistics, and bioethics.
Itai Gross
ISRAEL
Itai Gross
Dr. Itai Gross is the Head of the Pediatric Day Unit and a Senior Medical Officer in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. He also serves as the Pediatric POCUS Lead. Dr. Gross has led numerous national and international POCUS courses for pediatricians, PEM physicians, and students, and is actively involved in research and education in pediatric emergency medicine.
Robert Paul Guillerman
USA
Robert Paul Guillerman
Robert Paul Guillerman is a Professor of Radiology in the Department of Radiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The imaging of childhood lung disease has been a focus of his 25-year career as a pediatric radiologist. He has presented over 120 international invited lectures, published over 100 medical journal articles, and co-edited the latest edition of the Springer textbook Pediatric Chest Imaging. He is the recipient of the Master Clinician Award for Excellence in Patient Care from Baylor College of Medicine, the Thomas L. Slovis Award for Best Basic Science Paper in Pediatric Radiology, and Caffey Awards for Best Basic Science Paper and Best Clinical Paper by the Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR). He served as co-director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutic Development Network Imaging Core from 2011-2020, and as a member of the Children’s Interstitial Lung Disease (ChILD) Research Network, Image Gently Steering Committee, SPR Board of Directors, and SPR CT and Thoracic Imaging Committees. Dr. Guillerman directed the postgraduate radiology course for the annual International Congress of Pediatric Pulmonology from 2019-2022 and is continuing in this role for the International Society of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases (INSPiRED).
Guy Hazan
ISRAEL
Guy Hazan
Dr. Guy Hazan, MD, PhD, is a pediatric pulmonologist and Head of the Research and Innovation Center at the Saban Children’s Hospital, Soroka University Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel. His work bridges clinical care and research, with a focus on pediatric respiratory diseases, epidemiology, and data-driven innovation in child health.
He holds a Doctor of Medicine and a PhD in Epidemiology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Dr. Hazan completed a postgraduate fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonology at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also conducted research in basic science and big data analysis.
Combining clinical expertise with a strong academic background, Dr. Hazan is committed to advancing pediatric care through innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and research excellence.
Nara Higano
USA
Nara Higano
Dr. Nara Higano is a researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, affiliated with the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, the Department of Radiology, and the Cincinnati Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Center. Her research lies at the translational interface between pulmonary medicine, radiology, and pediatrics, with a focus on how innovative and sensitive imaging techniques for lung structure and function can contribute to quantifying and redefining pediatric pulmonary conditions.
She investigates the use of advanced imaging to predict outcomes in early disease and to elucidate precise responses to various clinical treatments. Techniques of interest include cutting-edge ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI, quantitative and automated approaches for measuring structural lung parenchymal abnormalities, dynamic image reconstruction for lung and central airway function, and inhaled xenon-129 gas MRI strategies in very young patients.
Her overarching goal is to impactfully improve our understanding and characterization of respiratory disease in young patients born prematurely or with congenital disorders, who are most likely to be burdened by lifelong respiratory impairment.
Dr. Higano is a member of the American Thoracic Society and the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
Marcus Jones
BRAZIL
Marcus Herbert Jones
Marcus Herbert Jones, MD, PhD, ATSF, is Full Professor of Pediatrics at PUCRS and a leading authority in pediatric pulmonology in Brazil. His research centers on chronic respiratory diseases, with a particular focus on lung function in children with conditions such as primary ciliary dyskinesia, asthma, and cystic fibrosis. He emphasizes molecular diagnostics, biomarker discovery, and the application of health technologies. Dr. Jones also leads initiatives in maternal and child health, as well as health equity, within Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS).
Eitan Kerem
ISRAEL
Eitan Kerem
Prof. Eitan Kerem, born and educated in Jerusalem, graduated from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, and completed his pediatric residency in Jerusalem, following by a fellowship in pediatric respiratory diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. From 2011 to 2020 he acted as the Chairman of Pediatrics at the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. In 2005, with a mission of improving the care of children with chronic diseases and promoting their medical and ethical right’s aspects, Prof. Kerem funded the Center for Children with Chronic Diseases. The center integrates all the services needed for the treatment of chronically ill children and is based on a unique, holistic approach for both the affected child and his family. The center has grown to be a well-known role-model for training colleague health providers and staff members. Prof. Kerem has published many papers in this field and is known for his advocacy for children in need.
Prof. Kerem’s interest is in the field of cystic fibrosis (CF). He served as a principal investigator in many national and international multi-center clinical trials and is an author of key publications in the field. His interest in Cystic Fibrosis spans all aspects of the condition and recently he is focusing on the clinical aspects of drug development to cure CF.
Being well-known in his field, Prof. Kerem served as a Board member of The European CF Society, being in charge of the development of the ECFS Patient Registry, which has allowed investigators to survey and compare aspects of cystic fibrosis and its treatment, thereby providing data for multicenter epidemiological and clinical research trials.
Prof. Kerem has a record of building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians. This includes training programs for Palestinian residents and fellows, and organizing collaborative seminars and workshops. Prof. Kerem accomplished a project to build a CF-centre in Gaza.
For his humanitarian activities and his contribution to pediatircs Prof. Kerem received the prestigious Ordine Della Stella Della Solidarieta Italiana Award. In 2010 he received the “Shalem” award bestowed by the Israeli National Foundation for the development of services for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In 2014, the ECFS Award was presented to Prof. Kerem, acknowledging his substantial and remarkable contribution to cystic fibrosis research. In 2016 he received Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UK. In 2023 he received the life achievement award from the Israel Society of Clinical Pediatrics.
Sigmond Kharasch
USA
Sigmund Kharasch
Dr. Sig Kharasch is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in pediatrics and fellowship training in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Boston City Hospital.
At Boston City Hospital/Boston Medical Center, Sig was Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department for 11 years. He was also Chair of Intern Selection for the Boston Combined Residency Program (BCRP) and was the recipient of several teaching awards including the Jerome O. Klein Faculty Teaching Award for the Boston Combined Residency Program.
Sig joined the Massachusetts General Hospital Pediatric Emergency Department in 2012 and completed his fellowship in Emergency Medicine Ultrasound at MGH in 2018. He has published numerous articles on lung and diaphragm ultrasound and has a special interest in POCUS in children with medical complexity. He has spoken nationally and internationally on several topics in point-of-care ultrasound and is a member of the P2 (Pediatric Emergency Medicine POCUS) Network Executive Committee and is Chair of Conferences.
Carina King
SWEDEN
Carina King
Associate Professor Carina King is an Infectious Diseases Epidemiologist, based at the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. Her research focus is paediatric pneumonia diagnosis, treatment and management - particularly the role of pulse oximetry and oxygen systems. She is the co-leading author of the Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security. Prof. King got her PhD from Imperial College London, and has worked in several countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Europe.
Amir Kugelman
ISRAEL
Amir Kugelman
Prof. Amir Kugelman is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the R&B Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa, Israel. He specialized in Pediatric Pulmonology and Neonatology in Children’s Hospital, LA, CA, and is currently the Director of the Neonatal Department and a Senior Pediatric Pulmonologist at Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel. He is the past Chairman of the Israeli Society of Pediatric Pulmonology.
His main research is in Neonatal Pulmonology, focusing on non- invasive ventilation, non-invasive respiratory monitoring in the NICU and the Pediatric Department, and in the prevention and treatment of Chronic Lung Disease of premature infants. Other areas of interest and research: Iatrogenesis in NICUs, late preterm infants, outcome of VLBW infants, and delayed cord clamping in the delivery room.
Sandra Kwarteng Owusu
GHANA
Sandra Kwarteng Owusu
Sandra Kwarteng Owusu is a Paediatric Pulmonologist and a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Child Health, School of Medical Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi Ghana. She is also a Consultant Paediatrician at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi. Sandra established the first Paediatric Pulmonology service at the (KATH) after her training in Cape Town South Africa. She has established a multi-disciplinary paediatric respiratory team.
Her research work is focused on lung health conditions in childhood such as; asthma, pneumonia, tuberculosis, HIV, and sickle cell disease. She also works on air pollution and its impact on lung health. Sandra is an ordinary executive member of the Pan African Thoracic Society and Vice President of the Ghana Thoracic Society. She worked closely with the society to develop the National Asthma Guidelines for Ghana. She is collaborating with the Pan African Thoracic Society in the ongoing multicenter study- Chronic Respiratory Disease Observatory (CHEST AFRICA study)
Stefania La Grutta
ITALY
Peter Le Souëf
AUSTRALIA
Peter Le Souëf
Prof Peter Le Souëf is a paediatric respiratory physician whose research is in children’s respiratory and infectious disease and global child health. He has established new techniques for measuring infant lung function, improved aerosol delivery to children, established a long-standing asthma birth cohort, and investigated infectious diseases globally. His more recent respiratory research has focused on the role of viral respiratory infections in acute wheeze/asthma in young children. Over the last 8 years, he has established the Future Child Health research group which investigates and assesses the effects of environmental deterioration, including climate change, and population dynamics on the health of past, current and future children, particularly in low- and middle- income countries. This research uses geo-temporal-spatial modelling and multiple large datasets. His group has recently shown that major institutions’ current projections for future child health are substantially over-optimistic. He and his researchers have been invited to present their findings at a side-event of the 2025 meeting of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development in New York.
Mary Therese Leopando
PHILIPPINES
Mary Therese M. Leopando
Dr. Mary Therese M. Leopando, M.D., FPPS, FPAPP, LFPSSM is a distinguished Pediatric Pulmonologist and Pediatric Sleep Specialist with extensive training and experience both in the Philippines and internationally. She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center and completed her Pediatric Residency at The Medical City.
She pursued further specialization through a Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, followed by a Pediatric Research Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital in Manitoba, Canada. She also completed a Pediatric Observership in Sleep Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Dr. Leopando currently serves as Head of the Pediatric Sleep Unit within the Section of Pulmonology at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, where she is also an active consultant. She holds additional consultancy roles at the Institute of Pediatrics, The Medical City, and is part of the clinical faculty at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health.
She is a Fellow of the Philippine Pediatric Society, a Life Fellow of the Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine, and a Fellow and Past President of the Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists, Inc. Dr. Leopando also contributes regionally as a member of the Asian Pediatric Pulmonology Society and serves as an adviser to the OSA Task Force of the Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists.
Dr. Leopando is known for her leadership in pediatric respiratory and sleep medicine, and her commitment to advancing child health through clinical care, research, and education.
Enrico Lombardi
ITALY
Enrico Lombardi
Dr. Enrico Lombardi, MD graduated in Medicine from the University of Florence, Italy, in 1991. From 1995 to 1996 he was a research associate in Tucson, Arizona, where he worked and published in the fields of lung function testing in young children and the epidemiology of pediatric asthma. He completed his residency in Pediatrics in 1997 in Florence, where in 2001 he took a position as Pediatrician at the “Anna Meyer” Children’s Hospital (University Hospital AOU and Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare IRCCS). In 2006 he completed the specialization in Diseases of the Respiratory System and since then he is in charge of the Pulmonary Unit at Meyer Children’s Hospital. His main area of interest is lung function testing in young children, on which he has published extensively and presented nationally and internationally. He was the Chair of the 7.1 Group “Paediatric Respiratory Physiology and Sleep” of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) from 2012 to 2015 and Chair of the International Relation Committee of the Pediatric Assembly of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) from 2010 to 2016. He was acknowledged as Fellow of the ERS (FERS) in 2023 and ATS Fellow (ATSF) in 2024. He is also a National Ambassador of the International Society of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases (INSPiRED) since 2025 and the current Vice-President (2024-2026) of Società Italiana Malattie Respiratorie Infantili/Italian Pediatric Respiratory Society (SIMRI).
Napoleon Macias Rodriguez
SPAIN
Diana Marangu-Boore
KENYA
Diana Marangu Boore
Dr. Diana Marangu-Boore is a board certified paediatric pulmonologist affiliated with the University of Nairobi in Kenya. She is committed to improving respiratory health regionally and globally through discovery, translation and intervention. Her current research focuses on the genetics and immunology of recurrent and persistent pneumonia and its intersection with interventional pulmonology.
Melanie Marti
SWITZERLAND
Melani Marti
Melanie Marti is a medical doctor from Germany. She holds a Master of Public Health and pursued post-graduate training in field epidemiology. Over the past 15 years she has been working on the development of immunization policy at national and international level. Specifically, she serves in the scientific Secretariat of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), a panel that is charged with advising WHO on overall global policies and strategies, ranging from vaccines and technology, research and development, to delivery of immunization and its linkages with other health interventions. Beyond vaccine-specific topics, Dr Marti has a strong interest in advancing methods related to evidence-based decision-making.
Fernando Martinez
USA
Susanna A. McColley
USA
Susanna A. McColley
Susanna A. McColley, MD, FAAP, ATSF is Professor of Pediatrics in Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Scientific Director for Interdisciplinary Research Partnerships at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Her primary research focus is cystic fibrosis includes epidemiology, clinical trials of new therapies, improving newborn screening for diagnostic timeliness and equity, and new tools for diagnosis and disease monitoring. As Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Pulmonology, she is a continuous learner who is dedicated to not only providing a venue for new research, but for reviews, case reports and commentaries that support evidence-based clinical practice, recognition of rare conditions and innovations in the care of children with respiratory disease. She is determined to improve health equity through research, dissemination, educational initiatives and fostering career development. At Northwestern University, she co-leads a course on antiracism in science, directs a National Institutes of Health funded postdoctoral training program, and co-directs a career development core for early career faculty underrepresented in biomedical research through an NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustained Transformation grant. Her work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Rosenau Family Research Foundation, and Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute.
Eric McCollum
USA
Eric McCollum
Dr. Eric D. McCollum, MD, MPH is the director of the Johns Hopkins Global Program in Pediatric Respiratory Sciences, an Associate Professor of Pediatric Pulmonology in the Eudowood Division of Pediatric Respiratory Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with a joint appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of International Health. He has nearly 20 years of clinical and research experience in child respiratory diseases specific to low-and middle-income countries in southern Africa and South Asia, has authored >140 peer-reviewed publications, and advises the World Health Organization in multiple capacities in the area of pediatric respiratory diseases.
Olga Mediano
SPAIN
Olga Mediano
Dr. Olga Mediano is a pulmonologist and sleep medicine expert. She earned her medical degree from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1998 and completed her pulmonology residency at La Paz University Hospital in 2003. She holds a PhD in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Madrid and has trained at institutions in the UK and the US, including UCLA.
Dr. Mediano leads the Sleep and Ventilation Unit at the University Hospital of Guadalajara—an accredited center of excellence by SEPAR—and has been a professor at the University of Alcalá since 2016. She holds two master’s degrees and is a certified expert in sleep medicine.
She has held leadership roles in national and international research networks, including SEPAR and the Spanish Sleep Network, and currently directs Group 05 of CIBERES at ISCIII. Her research focuses on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), its cardiovascular impacts, and its influence on children, sports, and pain.
Dr. Mediano has led major studies, including the international SAVE trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine, and the 2021 International Consensus Document on Sleep-Disordered Breathing. She has authored over 90 peer-reviewed papers with 4,000+ citations, has an H-index of 23, and has led or participated in over 30 funded research projects.
Asunción Mejías
USA
Asunción Mejías
Asunción Mejías is Professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair at the Department of Infectious Diseases at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in Memphis, TN, USA. For the past 25 years Dr. Mejías has been studying the pathogenesis of respiratory viral infections in infants and young children, with special emphasis on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). She has contributed with more than 290 publications including original articles, reviews, editorials and book chapters. She is also an active member of national and international professional organizations where she holds leadership positions, serves as external reviewer for several medical journals as well as professional organizations including NIH or the CDC.
Antonio Moreno Galdó
SPAIN
Dr. Antonio Moreno-Galdó
Dr. Antonio Moreno-Galdó was born in Granada, Spain and graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Granada.
He completed his training in Pediatrics at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain and his doctoral thesis at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
He has worked as a Pediatrician in Hospital Vall d’Hebron since 1992, and from 1998 he is dedicated to Pediatric Pulmonology, being the Head of the Section of Allergy, Pediatric Pulmonology and Cystic Fibrosis since 2008.
He is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and currently he is the President of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Pulmonology.
His lines of research include rare pediatric respiratory diseases (interstitial lung diseases, ciliary dyskinesia, pulmonary hypertension), lung function in children, and bronchial asthma.
Zoë Mullan
UK
Zoë Mullan
Zoë Mullan is Editor-in-Chief of the open access journal The Lancet Global Health and Inclusion & Diversity Lead for The Lancet Group. She is an Ex-Officio Board Member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health and a Scientific Advisory Board member of the Centre for International Health Protection at the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. Between 2013 and 2017 she was a Council Member and Trustee of the Committee on Publication Ethics. She trained in Biochemistry at the University of Bath, UK, before joining the publishing industry in 1997 as a Scientific Information Officer with CABI. She moved to The Lancet in 1999, where she has worked since, variously as a technical editor, section editor, and founding editor of The Lancet Global Health.
Anna Marie Nathan
MALAYSIA
Anna Marie Nathan
Prof Dr Anna Marie Nathan is a Senior Consultant Paediatrician and Paediatric Respiratory Physician in University Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, the top University in Malaysia.Her undergraduate medical education was in Trinity College, Dublin and she has been a Paediatrician (MRCPCH) and Paediatric Pulmonologist for more than 20 years. She is trained in both Paediatric Respiratory and Sleep medicine. She has been looking after children with home ventilation since 2001 and runs the only Level 1 PSG laboratory for children in Malaysia.
Her passion is not only in clinical medicine but also in teaching young doctors, post graduate students and budding Paeds Respiratory specialist.
To date she has published 85 articles in peer-reviewed journals, mentored more than 29 post graduate students and 10 Paediatric Respiratory Specialist trainees. She has received prizes for many research presentations. She has many research interests both locally and internationally. Other special interests are in Paediatric bronchoscopy, respiratory infections, chronic lung diseases and home ventilation for children and sleep medicine.
HaiThuy Nguyen
USA
HaiThuy Nguyen
Dr. HaiThuy Nguyen is an Associate Professor at Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California and a Pediatric Radiologist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Nguyen is a recognized expert in childhood interstitial lung disease (ChILD) and has published on imaging findings of Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis and COPA syndrome. She is currently a co-investigator for evaluation of ChILD using ultralow dose CT and for preliminary research in lung imaging using 0.55T MRI. Additionally, she has clinical expertise in other aspects of pediatric radiology, including fetal, bowel, and oncology imaging and regularly speaks at national and international meetings on these topics, as well as publishes extensively in peer-reviewed journals.
Gustavo Nino
USA
Gustavo Nino
Professor Gustavo Nino, M.D., M.S., MBA serves as the Associate Chief for Academic Affairs and Director of Sleep Medicine and Airway Biology Research at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. He is also a Tenured Faculty member in Pediatrics and a Principal Investigator at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Dr. Nino has received research funding from multiple institutes within the United States National Institutes of Health, including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
His research program focuses on airway epithelial responses to viral infections in newborns and infants, which are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable population. Dr. Nino’s work specifically targets pediatric groups at high risk for severe viral respiratory infections, such as infants born prematurely or with trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome. His laboratory also investigates how viral respiratory illnesses contribute to the development of obstructive sleep apnea in children.
In addition, Dr. Nino has pioneered the application of pediatric-focused artificial intelligence to the analysis of neonatal respiratory data. His team has developed artificial intelligence tools for predicting severe viral infections and improving the clinical assessment of sleep breathing disorders in children.
Dr. Nino has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, which have received over 3,200 citations. His academic contributions have been recognized at both the national and international levels. In 2019, he received the Robert Mellins Outstanding Achievement Award, the highest mid-career distinction presented by the American Thoracic Society Pediatric Assembly. He has served as an invited speaker and session chair at major scientific meetings, including those of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, CHEST, Pediatric Academic Societies, European Respiratory Society (ERS), the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and The International Society of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases (INSPIRED).
Heymut Omran
GERMANY
Heymut Omran
Heymut Omran is a Professor in Paediatrics and Head of the Department of General Pediatrics at the University Children's Hospital Münster, Germany. He is a Fellow of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), a member of the North Rhine Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and of the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences. He also serves as the Coordinator of the PCD Core within the European Reference Network for rare respiratory diseases (ERN-LUNG).
His research focuses on Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), including leadership of the International PCD Registry (established within the EU-funded BESTCILIA project), executive committee membership of the PCD Clinical Trial Network (PCD-CTN), and advisory roles for both the German and US PCD patient foundations. His work includes gene discovery, genotype-phenotype correlations, development of novel diagnostic tests, and advancing mRNA-based therapies for PCD.
Alessandro Onofri
ITALY
Alessandro Onofri
Dr Alessandro Onofri is a pediatric pulmonologist and Consultant at the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, where he has been working since 2017. He completed his residency in Pulmonology in Italy and underwent advanced training at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, where he specialized in pediatric sleep-disordered breathing and home mechanical ventilation in children.
Since his residency, Dr Onofri’s primary clinical and research interests have focused on sleep-related breathing disorders, long-term non-invasive and invasive mechanical ventilation, and telemedicine. Over the years, he has published several peer-reviewed articles in journals with impact factor as well as book chapters on these topics.
Dr Onofri is actively involved in the management of a telemedicine program dedicated to children receiving long-term home mechanical ventilation. He also teaches annually in the Master’s Program in Pulmonology and Cystic Fibrosis at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome.
In 2023, he was awarded the prize for “Project Innovation in the Use of ICT – Feasibility, Sustainability, and Replicability” for his project “Use of Telemedicine in the Medically Complex Child on Long-Term Home Mechanical Ventilation.”
Alejandro Orrico Sanchez
SPAIN
Jose Antonio Pena-Zarza
SPAIN
Leonardo Araujo Pinto
BRAZIL
Leonardo Araujo Pinto
Prof. Leonardo Araujo Pinto graduated in Medicine (UFRGS, 1999), completed a specialization in Pediatrics and Pediatric Pulmonology (PUCRS, 2003), and earned a PhD in Child Health (UNICAMP, 2009).
He gained expertise in genetic epidemiology at the University of Munich (LMU, Germany, 2007).
Prof. Pinto is currently a Full Professor at the PUCRS School of Medicine (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and a researcher at the PUCRS Infant Center. He has published over 100 articles indexed in Scopus.
His experience is focused on child health, with an emphasis on respiratory infections—mainly in the areas of epidemiology of respiratory infections, bronchiolitis, asthma, and cystic fibrosis.
Martí Pons-Odena
SPAIN
Martí Pons-Odena
Dr. Martí Pons-Odena, MD PhD is a senior consultant in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Barcelona Children’s Hospital – Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and serves as the coordinator of the hospital’s Pediatric Home Ventilation Program. He is also affiliated with the University of Barcelona. His clinical and academic work focuses on critical care and long-term respiratory support for pediatric patients.
Dr. Pons' main clinical interest is respiratory care in critically ill patients and patients requiring long-term mechanical ventilation. His research field focuses on mechanical ventilation, especially non-invasive ventilation. He has published more than 70 studies in indexed journals (H-index 17). In 2015 he published the third edition of the book “NIV in Pediatrics” written in collaboration with Dr. Medina. In 2024, he was co-editor of the book “ Prolonged and Long-Term Mechanical Ventilation in Children ”.
Founding member of the respiratory work groups of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Intensive Care (SECIP) and the European Society of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC), he has been Chair of both. He has actively participated in NIV research and teaching internationally, participating in multiple courses and presentations at international conferences, highlighting some editions of the NIV workshops in EPNV and World Congress of the Federation of Intensive Care Societies (WFPICCs) meetings since 2011. He also has participated as speaker in a few JIVD meetings in Lyon and ERS Mechanical Ventilation Conference in Berlin 2020.
He also organizes a biennial International Pediatric NIV meeting in Barcelona since 2013. Last one in 2024 overlapped with the 1st International Home Pediatric mechanical ventilation meeting
Detailed information on Linkedin http://lnkd.in/hP2ZFb
Dario Prais
ISRAEL
Dario Prais
Prof. Prais holds the position of Associate professor at the School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Tel Aviv University, and has published tens of peer-reviewed articles in medical journals.
He is actively involved in medical student teaching, resident training, and research.
He is the Director of the Graub Cystic Fibrosis Center and a former member of the Clinical Trials Network executive committee at the European Cystic Fibrosis Society.
He is currently the Director of the Pediatric Pulmonology Institute at Schneider Children's Medical Center.
Jean-Paul Praud
CANADA
Jean-Paul Praud
Dr Jean-Paul Praud is a pediatric pulmonologist with a PhD degree in respiratory physiology. After completing his MD and PhD studies in Paris, France, and a research fellowship in Sherbrooke, Canada, he got a position at the University of Sherbrooke in 1990, where he is still affiliated.
Dr Praud’s clinical interests have focused predominantly on sleep-disordered breathing, cardiorespiratory events of prematurity and sudden infant death syndrome, as well as home non-invasive respiratory support for the last 40 years.
Dr Praud’s research program mainly focuses on cardiorespiratory events and respiratory function of the larynx in early life. This includes studies in full-term and preterm lambs—a unique preclinical model from his lab—on swallowing-breathing coordination, laryngeal chemoreflexes, non-invasive respiratory support and gastro-esophageal reflux. He is the author of more than 200 articles and book chapters.
Dr Praud was a founder and directed the Center for Mother-Child Research at the University of Sherbrooke for more than 15 years. He was also president of the Mentorship Committee for Young Researchers at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences for 10 years.
Dr Praud cofounded both the International Congress on Pediatric Pulmonology (CIPP) (he was President of CIPP in 2002) and the International Course on Pediatric Pulmonology (he served as President every year from 2007 to 2023). Lastly, he has been involved in the launching of INSPiRED, the International Society for Pediatric Respiratory Diseases, where he serves as International Liaison Officer.
Dr Praud has received several awards and distinctions in recognition of his achievements. He held the Canada Research Chair in Neonatal Respiratory Physiology from 2009 to 2023. He was inducted as a Fellow to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2010. He was nominated Emeritus Researcher, University of Sherbrooke, in 2024. He is the recipient of a Lifelong Achievement Award in Pediatric Pulmonology from the Canadian Thoracic Society and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Rennes, France, in 2025.
Aroonwan Preutthipan
THAILAND
Aroonwan Preutthipan
Dr. Aroonwan Preutthipan is a professor in the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, in Bangkok, Thailand. She currently serves as the President of both the Asian Pediatric Pulmonology Society (APPS) and the Thai Society of Pediatric Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (TPRC).
In 1992, she earned her Thai Subboard certification in Pediatric Pulmonology. Following this, she worked as a visiting faculty member for two years at the Division of Pediatric Respiratory Sciences and the Pediatric Sleep and Breathing Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Maryland, USA.
In 2003, Dr. Preutthipan received the Governor's Community Service Award for her project on Home Mechanical Ventilation for Children in Thailand. As the President of the Sleep Society of Thailand, she led the organization to win the Distinguished Activity Award from the World Sleep Society in 2019. She has also received several teaching awards in Thailand and was recently invited to lecture at the World Sleep Academy.
Dr. Preutthipan has authored book chapters and research manuscripts, served as a reviewer for various journals, and delivered presentations at international conferences. Her research focuses primarily on obstructive sleep apnea, home mechanical ventilation, and respiratory care.
Felix Ratjen
CANADA
Felix Ratjen
Dr. Felix Ratjen is a Paediatric Respirologist in the Division of Respiratory Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto. He is also Program Head and Senior Scientist in the Translational Medicine research program at SickKids Research Institute and co-leads the SickKids CF Centre. Dr. Ratjen conducts multiple clinical trials addressing cystic fibrosis lung disease including new therapeutic strategies to target the underlying defect, treatment of airway infections such as first infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, airway inflammation and other important aspects of the disease. In addition, he is involved in developing and validating new outcome measures to quantify important aspects of CF lung disease that can be utilized in clinical trials. He also studies other lung diseases and over the recent years has developed an interest in the clinical evaluation of Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT), for which he is leading one of the largest dedicated paediatric clinics.
Joel Reiter
ISRAEL
Joel Reiter
Dr. Joel Reiter is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Medicine. Having completed his residency in pediatrics he completed a pediatric pulmonary fellowship at the Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, FA, followed by a fellowship in sleep medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Hospitals, in Boston, MA.
Dr. Reiter returned to Israel in 2014 and joined the Hadassah Pediatric Pulmonary unit. In 2016 he established the Hadassah sleep center and sleep laboratory. He is a Hebrew University Medical School senior lecturer and coordinator for the course on the Respiratory System of the Sick Person. Chairman of the Israeli Sleep Research Society committee. Dr. Reiter’s research interests include diagnosis and treatment of asthma, bronchiolitis, cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia and sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea and narcolepsy.
Gail Rodgers
USA
Gail Rodgers
Gail Rodgers received her Doctorate in Medicine from Temple University School of Medicine. She did her pediatric residency and pediatric infectious diseases fellowship at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia where she served as attending physician and Associate Professor for nine years. In 2005 she moved to industry worked as Senior Director for Vaccines Scientific Affairs at Wyeth and Pfizer, where she led the strategy to incorporate pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in emerging markets. Prior to joining BMGF, worked as an independent consultant working to promote vaccine usage in Latin America and Asia.
Since joining the Pneumonia Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in October 2014, she has led the Pneumococcus Initiative with a focus on development of a low cost pneumococcal vaccine, assessment of alternate dosing strategies of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), and assessment of impact of PCVs in GAVI Alliance countries. Gail also leads the Meningococcal Initiative that focuses on the development and use of meningococcal vaccines to decrease the burden of meningitis globally and especially in the African meningitis belt. Additionally, she lead the effort to understand the role of household air pollution (HAP) on pneumonia in children and interventions that can be done to decrease pneumonia due to HAP.
Christian Rosas-Salazar
USA
Christian Rosas-Salazar
Christian Rosas-Salazar, MD, MPH, is a pediatric pulmonologist and clinical translational investigator at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Rosas-Salazar received his medical degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. He then completed a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and a pediatric pulmonary fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. He is also a graduate of the Master of Public Health Program of the University of Pittsburgh. His current scientific program focuses on 1) examining genetic, environmental, sociodemographic, and lifestyle factors that shape the early-life respiratory microbiome, 2) evaluating the role of the early-life respiratory microbiome in the programming of the immune response, the severity of acute viral respiratory infections in infancy, and the origins of pediatric asthma phenotypes, and 3) developing novel interventions to manipulate the early-life respiratory microbiome with the ultimate purpose of preventing acute and chronic lung diseases in children. His contributions to research have been recognized by honors from the American Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, the Society for Pediatric Research, and the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, among others. His scientific program is supported by funds from the Parker B. Francis Fellowship and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Bruce Rubin
USA
Bruce Rubin
Bruce Rubin is Professor and Chair Emeritus of Pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University and Professor of Biomedical Engineering. As a Rhodes Scholar, he trained in Biomedical Engineering at Oxford University and then did his fellowship in Paediatric Respirology at Sick Kids in Toronto. He holds the MD and Masters in Engineering degrees from Tulane, and an MBA degree from Wake Forest University Babcock School of Business.
Dr. Rubin received the Forest Bird Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award as well as the Jimmy A Young Medal from the AARC, the Prix extraordinaire from CIPP and he is a Prix Galien Laurate. He holds honorary appointments in 4 medical schools, is on the editorial board of 10 journals, has published more than 300 original research papers and chapters (H-index 76), and holds 11 patents. His research focus is applied airway fluid dynamics: the regulation of mucus clearance in health and disease, airway inflammation and immunomodulation, cough, and aerosol delivery of medications.
Dr. Rubin is also a magician, with membership in the International Brotherhood of Magicians (Wizard Award) and over the past 30 years has taught medical magic in 40 countries on 5 continents.
Marta Ruiz de Valbuena
SPAIN
Dirk Schramm
GERMANY
Dirk Schramm
Dr. Dirk Schramm is a senior physician at the University Children's Hospital in Düsseldorf, Germany, specializing in General Pediatrics, Neonatology, Pediatric Cardiology, and particularly Pediatric Pulmonology, Allergology, and Dysphagia. He currently leads the Scientific Working Group on Pediatric Pulmonology and Pediatric Dysphagia.
Dr. Schramm's academic and clinical journey reflects over two decades of dedicated service and specialization in pediatric medicine. After completing his medical studies at Ruhr University Bochum in 2000 and earning his doctorate in 2001, he began his career with a fellowship in Anesthesiology (2000–2005), including regular service in pediatric emergency care.
His transition to pediatrics began in 2005 with fellowships at St. Johannes Hospital in Duisburg (focused on neonatology and pediatric intensive care), the Children's Hospital Wesel (specializing in Pediatric Pulmonology and Pediatric Bronchoscopy), and subsequently at the University Children's Hospital Düsseldorf, where he completed his fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonology and served as a senior physician until 2017.
From 2018, Dr. Schramm served as Department Head of Pediatric Pulmonology, Allergology, and the Cystic Fibrosis Center at the University Children's Hospital Erlangen before returning to Düsseldorf in 2019 to take on his current role.
His qualifications include board certifications in Anesthesiology (2005), Pediatrics (2010), Pediatric Pulmonology (2012), and Allergology (2023). He also holds a postdoctoral lecture qualification (Habilitation) earned in June 2024, granting him the academic title of Associate Professor.
Dr. Schramm’s extensive clinical experience and academic leadership continue to advance the fields of pediatric pulmonology, allergology, and dysphagia both nationally and internationally.
Kunling Shen
CHINA
Kunling Shen
Professor, Chief Physician Doctoral Supervisor
Foreign Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences
Honorary President of Chinese Medical Association Chinese Society of Pediatrics
President of China National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases
President of China Medicine Education Association Pediatric Committee
Foreign Academician of Royal Irish Medical Association
President of Asian Society for Pediatric Research (ASPR)
BOD Member of Asian Pacific Academy of Pediatric Allergy, Respirology and Immunology (APAPARI)
Chief Member of Expert Committee on Children’s Drug Use National Health and Family Planning Commission of P.R. China
Vice Chief Member of Chinese Medical Doctor Association-Pediatric Resident Standardized Training
Deputy Editor of the Journal of Pediatric Pulmonology
Luiz Vicente Ribeiro Ferreira Silva-Filho
BRAZIL
Luiz Vicente Ribeiro Ferreira Silva-Filho
Luiz Vicente Ribeiro Ferreira Silva-Filho, MD, PhD, is a Pediatrician specialized in Pediatric Pulmonology. His main interests are related to cystic fibrosis, respiratory infections and molecular-based diagnostic methods. He is the Coordinator of the Pediatric Pulmonology Unit of Instituto da Criança e do Adolescente HCFMUSP, in Sào Paulo, Brazil. Working with fellowship training, assistance to outpatients and inpatients, as well as clinical research, he is also the Executive Coordinator of the Brazilian Cystic Fibrosis Patient Registry since its foundation, in 2009.
Manuel E. Soto-Martínez
COSTA RICA
Manuel E. Soto-Martínez
Manuel E. Soto-Martínez, MD, MSc, is an A. Professor of Paediatrics and Paediatric Pulmonology at Hospital Nacional de Niños “Dr. Carlos Sáenz Herrera” and School of Medicine of the University of Costa Rica. Graduated in Paediatrics from the University of Costa Rica in 2007. From 2007 to 2010 he completed his fellowship in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Children´s Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Following his return to Costa Rica, he completed his Masters in Epidemiology at the National University of Costa Rica (2013-2015). He is currently the Chief in Clinics at the Respiratory Department and Respiratory Therapy Unit Hospital Nacional de Niños, San José, Costa Rica.
Dr. Soto-Martínez has focused his research on the epidemiology of respiratory diseases (eg. Asthma, Allergies, Cystic Fibrosis, bronchiectasis, recurrent wheeze, complicated pneumonia, and other respiratory infections), Indoor and Outdoor pollution (health effects, burden, consequences in children and mitigation strategies) and Non-invasive ventilation and tech support at home in children with chronic respiratory conditions in Costa Rica and Latin-America.
His love for research, education and participation in educational scientific activities has led him to travel around the world participating as a guest professor in multiple conferences, grand rounds, keynote lectures, and forums on respiratory diseases. His dedication, commitment and coordination skills have led him to be part of Central Committees of the main associations in Pediatric Respiratory Medicine in children.
Padmini Srikantiah
USA
Padmini Srikantiah
Dr. Padmini Srikantiah leads the foundation’s initiative to address respiratory syncytial virus, the leading cause of pneumonia in young infants globally, through the development of effective maternal and infant immunization strategies. She also leads the cross-foundation antimicrobial resistance strategy, which includes efforts to prevent newborn sepsis by developing a vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae, a frequently drug-resistant pathogen.
Previously, she served as a senior medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leading its AMR initiative in India, which encompassed efforts to strengthen AMR surveillance and reduce key health care–associated infections. She also led the CDC’s infectious disease surveillance in India, which included efforts to identify etiologies of encephalitis and acute febrile illness.
Padmini earned a B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.D. from the University of California San Diego, and an MPH in epidemiology from UC Berkeley. She is board certified in infectious diseases and served in the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service.
Renato T. Stein
BRAZIL
Renato T. Stein
Renato T. Stein is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Pulmonary Unit at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Sarabon Tahura
BANGLADESH
Sarabon Tahura
Dr. Sarabon Tahura is an Associate Professor of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital & Institute, the largest pediatric academic institute in Bangladesh. She is the country’s first Pediatric Interventional Pulmonologist, specializing in advanced bronchoscopic procedures for children and neonates, particularly in the retrieval of airway foreign bodies. Dr. Sarabon has pioneered several procedures in Bangladesh, including flexible bronchoscopy-guided tumor debulking, balloon bronchoplasty, endobronchial electro surgery, cryotherapy, APC in children.
Dr. Sarabon is actively involved in developing pediatric pulmonology curriculam, guidelines, training programs in Bangladesh and serves as a faculty member for post-graduate exams. She is frequently invited as international faculty at meetings, conferences and bronchoscopy workshops in different countries. She was awarded in different international seminars.
Dr. Sarabon has authored the book “Pediatric Bronchoscopy –Learn the Basic” and contributed to multiple book chapters on the subject. A good number of articles have been published under her name in national and international journals. For her outstanding contributions to health and social work, she was awarded the ‘Bangladesh Women Empowerment Award-2022’. Through her dedication and expertise, Dr. Sarabon has greatly advanced pediatric respiratory care in Bangladesh.
Aki Tanimoto
USA
Aki Tanimoto
Aki Tanimoto, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Radiology in the General and Cardiac imaging
sections at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She completed her residency at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, her Cardiac and Pulmonary imaging fellowship at the
University of California San Francisco, and Pediatric Radiology fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Alejandro Teper
ARGENTINA
Alejandro Teper
Dr. Alejandro Teper is the Head of the Respiratory Center at Ricardo Gutiérrez Children's Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He serves as the Director of the Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Program at the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires.
He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Pediatric Pulmonology journal and served as President of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Pulmonology from 2019 to 2023.
Luis Renter Valdovinos
SPAIN
Alba Torrent-Vernetta
SPAIN
Alba Torrent-Vernetta
Dr. Alba Torrent-Vernetta holds a medical degree from the University of Barcelona, is a specialist in Pediatrics, with a Master’s in Pulmonary Hypertension and a PhD in Pediatrics. She has completed advanced training and research stays at leading international institutions including the Royal Brompton Hospital (London, UK), Children’s Hospital Colorado (Denver, USA), and the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada). Since 2009, she has been working as a pediatric pulmonologist at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, where she leads the home mechanical ventilation program and has specialized in rare pediatric respiratory diseases, pulmonary hypertension, and pediatric lung transplantation. She participates in local and international networks focused on rare respiratory diseases. She has been teaching in the Master’s Program in Pediatric Pulmonology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona since 2009, and is a clinical researcher at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). She is also involved in the organizing committee of the JIVD International Congress on Home Ventilation and is a board member of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Pulmonology.
Elianne Vrijlandt
NETHERLANDS
Elianne Vrijlandt
Dr. Elianne J.L.E. Vrijlandt is a pediatric pulmonologist at the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, where she has worked since 2003. She earned her PhD in 2006 on the respiratory health of children born prematurely. Her clinical and research focus includes infant lung function, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, asthma, and the long-term respiratory outcomes of preterm birth. Dr. Vrijlandt is actively involved in national guideline development and international collaborations. She has led and contributed to numerous clinical studies and published extensively in the field. She currently serves as Head of Patient Care at the Beatrix Children’s Hospital.
Jason Weinman
USA
Jason Weinman
Dr. Weinman is professor of radiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus and a pediatric radiologist and the Children’s Hospital of Colorado where he is the director of body imaging and CT. He was the former chair of the thoracic imaging committee of the Society of Pediatric Radiology from 2022 to 2024. He has been part of the chILD network and imaging working group since 2014 and is the Imaging sub-group lead ATS clinical practice guideline chILD in patients <2yo. Dr. Weinman has authored over 35 papers on pediatric lung disease.
Mark Oliver Wielpütz
GERMANY
Mark Oliver Wielpütz
Prof. Dr. med. Mark Oliver Wielpütz, MHBA is Chair and Medical Director of the Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology, and Nuclear Medicine at University Medicine Greifswald. He is a board-certified radiologist in Germany with subspecialty certification in pediatric radiology and a strong academic and clinical background in thoracic imaging, interventional radiology, and lung cancer screening.
Prof. Wielpütz received his medical degree with distinction from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and completed part of his training in Sydney, Australia. He earned his doctorate summa cum laude in 2009, followed by board certification in radiology in 2014. He holds several prestigious European diplomas, including the European Diploma in Radiology (EDIR), the European Diploma in Thoracic Imaging (ESTI), the European Board of Interventional Radiology (EBIR), and certifications in lung cancer screening. Additionally, he completed a Master of Health Business Administration (MHBA) at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Before his current appointment in Greifswald, he served as Deputy Medical Director and Head of Pulmonary Imaging at the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at University Hospital Heidelberg. He was also affiliated with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Translational Lung Research Center (TLRC), part of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), where he led a junior research group on structural and functional airway imaging from 2012 to 2020. His international experience includes research fellowships in Japan and Australia.
Prof. Wielpütz was appointed Associate Professor (Apl. Prof.) at the University of Heidelberg in 2019, following his habilitation in 2016. His research focuses on advanced imaging techniques for pulmonary diseases, particularly cystic fibrosis, COPD, and lung cancer. He has been awarded multiple national and international honors, including the Christiane Herzog Research Award, Marie Curie Ring, Vertex Innovation Award, and several best paper and presentation awards from societies such as the ESR, ESTI, and international CF conferences.
He has authored numerous high-impact publications in leading journals such as American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Annals of the American Thoracic Society, and is co-editor of the textbook MRI of the Lung (2nd Edition, Springer). His work has helped to establish MRI as a reliable tool for non-invasive lung imaging in both research and clinical practice.
Gary Wong
CHINA
Gary Wong
Professor Gary Wong obtained his undergraduate medical education from the University of Alberta, Canada. He subsequently received fellowship training at the Children’s Hospital of British Columbia and visiting Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital at Munich, Germany. Prof Wong’s main research interests are treatment, control and prevention of respiratory disorders including asthma, wheezing illness and respiratory infections in children. He has published over 400 indexed original research articles and review articles in his field. He is a Past President of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Pediatric Allergy, Respirology and Immunology (APAPARI). He has been one of the Board of Directors of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA). He is one of the current Board of Directors of the World Allergy Organization, one of the steering committee members of the ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) research group. Among other duties within many editorial boards, he is also an associate editor of New England Journal of Medicine.
Marco Zampoli
SOUTH AFRICA
Marco Zampoli
Marco Zampoli completed his paediatric pulmonology training in South Africa where he currently holds the position of Associate Professor in Paediatrics at the University of Cape Town. Prof. Zampoli is head of the paediatric cystic fibrosis(CF)clinic at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. He completed his PhD on various aspects of CF epidemiology in South Africa and Africa. His other research and clinical interests include primary ciliary dyskinesia, pleural effusions, sleep medicine and long-term home ventilation.
Heather Zar
SOUTH AFRICA
Heather Zar
Heather Zar is Professor & Chair, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and Director of the SA-MRC Unit on Child & Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town. A global expert in childhood respiratory diseases, she’s built a strong clinical translational research program in some of the most deprived communities, with a strong focus on childhood pneumonia. She established an African birth cohort enabling study of the epidemiology, determinants and long term impact of early life exposures including pneumonia. She has participated in several studies of RSV prevention in infants. She chaired the WHO Technical Advisory committee on new RSV preventive interventions. She is past-President of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, of the Pan African Thoracic Society, and serves as an advisor to WHO, UNICEF and the Gates Foundation. She received the World Lung Health award from the American Thoracic Society, the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Laureate for Africa and Arabia, the SA-MRC Platinum medal for contributions over a lifetime, the European Respiratory Society Lifetime Achievement Award and the Barney Graham award for contributions on RSV. She is passionate about reducing global health inequities and ensuring access to effective interventions for all children.
Daniel Araos Zenteno
CHILE
Daniel Araos Zenteno
Paediatric Pneumologist
Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Universidad de Concepción, Chile.
Head of the Paediatric Pneumology Team, Hospital Gmo Grant Benavente, Concepción, Chile; where he currently coordinates the Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation Unit and the Home Mechanical Ventilation, Sleep and Respiratory Rehabilitation programmes.
He is the author of more than 70 articles (original and reviews), a book and 10 chapters of textbooks on Paediatrics and Paediatric Pneumology, including the topic of prolonged mechanical ventilation, which he will present at this congress.
During 2012 and 2013 he was president of the Chilean Society of Paediatric Pneumology (SOCHINEP), remaining to date as an active member and collaborator in this and other scientific societies in the Paediatric and Respiratory area in Chile and Latin America.