Pierre-Régis Burgel is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the Paris Descartes University and Cochin Hospital (Paris, France). Pierre-Régis is the National Coordinator of the French Cystic Fibrosis Reference Center Network and does clinical care and research in the field of chronic airway diseases, including cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He is leader of ERN-LUNG cystic fibrosis center at Cochin Hospital and co-leader of the clinical and cell biology research group “acute and chronic pulmonary infection” at Cochin Institute. Pierre-Régis is also scientific secretary of the French national cohort INITIATIVES BPCO, dedicated to the identification of COPD phenotypes. Pierre-Régis is associate editor at the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis and frequent reviewer for major pulmonary journals. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles. Their current project is on clinical phenotypes in COPD and Cystic fibrosis and lung immunology during chronic airway bacterial infection.

Director of the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection at Papworth Hospital

Co-author of the US CF Foundation and European CF Society NTM guidelines published in Thorax in December 2015 and co-chair of the BTS NTM guidelines committee.

Member of the BTS bronchiectasis and ERS bronchiectasis guidelines committees

European Union member founder of iABC and CFMATTERS consortia

Co-chief investigator of three current international novel therapy clinical trials in people with bronchiectasis

Site Principal Investigator for the European Cystic Fibrosis Society Clinical Trials network and is a member of the CF Foundation Data Safety Monitoring Board

Member of EMBARC (The European Bronchiectasis Network) Steering Committee

Professor, Head of Department of Paediatrics, Policlinico San Pietro, Head of Paediatric Asthma and Cough Centre, Policlinico San Pietro, ITALY

Prof.  Ahmad Kantar MD, PhD, MSc.  is currently Director of the Paediatric Cough and Asthma Centre and Head of the Paediatric Unit at Istituti Ospedalieri Bergamaschi, University and Research Hospitals in Bergamo Italy. He was previously Director of High Altitude Paediatric Asthma Centre in Misurina and lecturer at the department of Paediatric and Biochemistry at the University of Ancona and University of Camerino  (Italy).

His main programme of research has focused on the clinical and scientific aspects of chronic cough, asthma  and inhalation therapy in children. He has been a contributor to the European Respiratory Society Cough guidelines.

Eva Polverino is pulmonologist and a senior investigator at the research Institute of University Hospital of Vall d’Hebron. She is currently leading the research lines of CF, bronchiectasis and immunodeficiencies in lung diseases and is member of the local Committee of primary immunodeficiency. She is member of the respiratory infections assemblies within the Spanish society of Respiratory Disease (SEPAR-area TIR, PII de bronquiectasias) and Secretary of the Assembly 10 (respiratory infections) of European Respiratory Society. Chair of the ERS taskforce on bronchiectasis and Co-Chair of the European registry of bronchiectasis (EMBARC) and clinical research collaboration (ERS). Experienced in European projects she is currently participating in the Value-Dx project as ERS representative (WP6).

Dr Eva Polverino trained at Naples University, and obtained his PhD at University of Pisa (Italy). She runs specialist clinical services for bronchiectasis, immunodeficiencies and cystic fibrosis, and leads an active research programme as head of the research team in Cystic Fibrosis and Bronchiectasis at the research Institute of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital. She is currently directing four doctoral thesis. Her main topics of interests are chronic infections, physical activity and respiratory physiotherapy, antimicrobial therapy, non antibiotic strategies for infection control, new biomarkers and host immune response in the pathogenesis of bronchiectasis and CF, clinical trials in CF and bronchiectatic lung diseases.

Dr. Polverino Maher is an associate editor for European Respiratory Review, ERJ monograph, and Springer. She has authored over 80 papers and book chapters on respiratory infections, respiratory physiotherapy, bronchiectasis and pneumonia.

Gernot Rohde is Full Professor and Head of Respiratory Medicine at Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Gernot Rohde has particular scientific interests in respiratory infections in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with a focus on viral pathogens as well as community acquired pneumonia. He is chairman of the executive board of CAPNETZ, one of the largest networks for community acquired pneumonia worldwide. He has served numerous roles at the European Respiratory Society (ERS), including Chair of the Education Council.

Michal Shteinberg is heading the bronchiectasis and adult CF service in the Pulmonology institute and CF center, Carmel medical center, Haifa, Israel. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Faculty of medicine at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Her main research interests are bronchiectasis and its overlap with other airway diseases, and adult CF.

Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover.

Member of the board of directors of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL) and director of the Hannover DZL site BREATH (Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover)

Member of EMBARC (The European Bronchiectasis Network) Steering Committee

Immediate Past – President of ERS – European Respiratory Society