Andrew Bush

Prof. Andrew Bush is the Professor of Paediatrics and Head of Section (Paediatrics), Imperial College, Professor of Paediatric Respirology, National Heart and Lung Institute, and Consultant Paediatric Chest Physician, Royal Brompton Hospital, London UK. He is also Editor in Chief of Thorax, with Professor Ian Pavord.

His main research interests are the invasive and non-invasive assessment of airway inflammation, paediatric clinical physiology, and orphan lung diseases.

See more info about Prof. Andrew Bush here

Anne Chang

Professor Anne Chang is an established clinician researcher recognised for her contributions to clinical research in the areas of paediatric cough, bronchiectasis and evidence based articles. She has helped develop and apply evidence based medicine for respiratory illness in children, in Australia and internationally in the areas of cough, bronchiectasis and asthma.
She is the Division Leader of Child Health at the Menzies School of Health Research and leads an Australian National Health and Medical Research Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Children’s Lung Health. Her main clinical practice is at the Children’s Hospital in Brisbane
She has been a NHMRC practitioner fellow since 2004 and has published over 400 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. Her major interest are in Indigenous health issues, evidence based management, airway disease, protracted bacterial bronchitis, cough and suppurative lung disease in children.

Kazutoshi Cho

Kazutoshi Cho, MD is Clinical Professor of Hokkaido University Hospital and General Manager of Maternity and Perinatal Care Center of Hokkaido University Hospital. He completed fellowships in pediatrics in Hokkaido Prefecture, and started study on pulmonary surfactant at Iwate Medical University in 1990. His mentor in this field was Professor Tetsuro Fujiwara who established surfactant replacement therapy for respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. Dr. Cho returned to Hokkaido in 1994 and met the siblings with congenital pulmonary alveolar proteinsis (CPAP). There were three affected individuals in four siblings. After many years of efforts, he decided OAS1 is the responsible gene for a novel type of primary immune deficiency complicated with CPAP, hypogammagloburinemia and some other common features. Dr. Cho is a neonatologist, a pulmonologist and also a genetic scientist. He is now performing clinical supports and advices about genetic interstitial lung diseases for neonatologists and pediatricians in Japan.

Andrew Colin

Andrew Colin, MD is the Batchelor Professor of Cystic Fibrosis and Pediatric Pulmonology and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami. He has continually held leadership positions with the International Congresses of Pediatric Pulmonology (CIPP) and served as the President of its 10^th and 11^th Congresses. 

Professor Colin completed fellowships in pediatric pulmonology at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He remained at Harvard for 15 years ranked Associate Professor, and at Boston Children’s Hospital served as Clinical Chief of the pulmonary program, he was also in charge of the Pediatric Pulmonary Clerkship of Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Colin published extensively and presented nationally and internationally in areas of his interest: structural and functional development and morbidity of the respiratory system with related physiological measurements, including lung diseases of late prematurity, infants with CF and HIV. Pediatric bronchoscopy. Infectious and inflammatory diseases of the lung. Pediatric Radiology.

He directs the fellowship training program at the University of Miami and trained some 60 fellows in pediatric pulmonology. In 2017, he became the first ever recipient of “PEDS Lifetime Contributions to Pediatric Respiratory Medicine Award” of the ATS Assembly on Pediatrics. At Harvard, he received a Pulmonology Teaching Award named after him, as well as the 2004 Klaus Peter International Teaching Award. He has been named Honorary Fellow of the pediatric pulmonary societies of Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Adnan Custovic

Adnan Custovic is Clinical Professor of Paediatric Allergy at Imperial College London.  His research has focused upon the origins and natural history of asthma and allergy across the life-course, with an emphasis on prevention and translation for patient benefit. His research findings are of great practical significance, and have informed and changed national and international guidelines on asthma prevention/management. His current research programme combines world-leading expertise in birth cohorts and statistical machine learning, and capitalises on the recent developments within the field of computer sciences to provide powerful new tools that are well suited to the challenge of integration of different scales of data (from molecular-level to population-level), and different levels of directness of measurement of factors. 

In 2015 Prof Custovic was awarded the highly competitive European Respiratory Society Gold Medal for research in asthma. In 2013 he received the BSACI William Frankland Medal for outstanding contributions to clinical allergy, and the CIPP President’s award for the distinguished achievements in childhood asthma. He delivered numerous prestigious keynote/named lectures, including Nemacolin Asthma Conference (2014), Alain De Weck Memorial Lecture (2013), Cas Motala Memorial Lecture (South African Allergy Society, 2013), James Hutchison's Memorial Lecture (Hong Kong Paediatric Society, 2012), the RSM Priscilla Piper Lecture (2011) and Caspar Weinberg Lecture (2007).

He has served as a Secretary of the BSACI for two terms, and as President of Asthma section of the EAACI.

James Gern

James E. Gern MD is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. Dr. Gern graduated with a BS in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 1978, and an MD degree from the University of South Florida in 1981. He completed pediatrics training at the State University of New York in Syracuse and at Tufts University in Boston. After serving in the US Navy for three years, he completed an Allergy/Immunology Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in 1992, and then joined the faculty at the UW-Madison.  He is currently the Chief of the Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology Division, and the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Gern is the PI for the Asthma and Allergic Disease Cooperative Research Center at UW-Madison, and leads birth cohort studies in Wisconsin farm country and in four US urban neighborhoods. He is also the PI of the Children’s Respiratory Research and the Environment Workgroup (CREW), a consortium of 12 asthma birth cohorts funded by the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program and focused on identifying environmental exposures that promote childhood asthma.

Anne Goh

Dr Anne Goh is currently Head of the Paediatric Allergy Service and Senior Consultant of the Respiratory Medicine Service at the Department of Paediatrics, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore. Her job scope encompasses seeing both Allergy and Respiratory-related diseases but she also does General Paediatric ward rounds in her practice. She developed the bronchoscopy service for the Respiratory Medicine Service. She actively participates in training of Residents and Medical students in her work.
She is also the President of the Singapore Paediatric Society. She is a member to many professional committees, including Clinical Advisory Panel for Rehabilitation, Committee for development of Acute Viral Bronchiolitis Clinical Pathway, Asthma Clinical Pathway and Pneumonia Clinical Pathway and Committee for Respiratory Tract Infections Antibiotic Guidelines. Dr Goh is a reviewer for several journals including Asian Cardiovascular & Thoracic Annals, Singapore Medical Journal, Respirology, Annals Academy of Medicine, Paediatric International,Pediatric Pulmonology, Emerging infectious Diseases, Clinical and Developmental Immunology,Clinical Experimental Allergy as well as for the NMRC Exploratory and Developmental proposals and for the MIMS Respiratory Guide. She is also Adjunct Associate Professor of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. She is Senior Lecturer of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

With clinical and research interests in the areas including respiratory infections, bronchial asthma management, obstructive sleep apnoea and allergy, Dr Goh has authored or co-authored several peer-reviewed papers as well as given many presentations at national and international courses and conferences. She is also actively involved in many asthma-related, infectious disease and allergy clinical trials. 

Christian Guilleminault

Christian Guilleminault obtained his MD at the Faculté de Médecine de Paris (France) in 1962, and had is Doctorate in medicine in 1968 at the same place. He did his neurology training mostly at the hospital de La Salpêtrière in Paris, and after finishing neurology, his psychiatry training in Geneva, Switzerland and Paris, France. He was board certified in neurology and board certified in psychiatry in France in 1970. He obtained a Diplôme d’Étude Approfondie from the Paris University Faculty of Sciences (Histology and Histo-Chemistry) in 1968. He received a Doctorate in Biology/Neurosciences from the Université de Grenoble in 1999; He had the Academic Diploma “Habilitation à Diriger la Recherche” from the  Université de Montpellier medical school in 1998.  He is a Fellow from the American EEG Society and a Fellow from the AASM (AmericanAcademy of Sleep Medicine).

Academic carreer: He was nominated « Maître de Recherche » (tenure) in L’Institut National de la Santé et la de Recherche Médicale (INSERM) in Paris (France) in 1977.

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University in 1980. Professor with tenure of neurology in psychiatry, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and (by courtesy) Neurology, Stanford university school of medicine in 1985.

Guest Professor at the University of Marburg (Germany) and recipient of an Humbolt grant in 1987-1988. Professor without tenure, École de medicine de Montpellier (France) 1994-1996.

He is currently professor in the department of psychiatry and behavior sciences and by courtesy, in the department of neurology, Stanford university medical school, Stanford CA and professor with tenure in the Stanford University Sleep Medicine Division.
His current research is to find the different risk factors that lead to occurrence of sleep-disordered-breathing and obstructive-sleep-apnea, with the goal of preventive occurrence of the syndrome by treating early the risks factors.
He is internationally involved in the creation of "Sleep Medicine" as a medical field throughout the world.

R. Paul Guillerman

R. Paul Guillerman is Professor of Radiology at the Baylor College of Medicine and Chief of Academic Affairs in the Department of Pediatric Radiology at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. His clinical and research interests include imaging of pediatric diffuse lung diseases, chest CT technique optimization, risk assessment and communication. He has given over 130 invited lectures, authored or co-authored over 80 medical journal articles and textbook chapters, and co-edited the latest edition of the Springer textbook Pediatric Chest Imaging. He is co-director of the Center for Diagnostic Imaging of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) Therapeutic Development Network. He has served as a member of the CFF Preschool Age Screening and Monitoring Workgroup, Children’s Interstitial Lung Disease Research Network (ChILDRN), Image Gently Steering Committee and Speakers Group, Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR) Research & Education Board of Directors, SPR CT and Thoracic Imaging Committees, and ACR-SCBT-MR-SPR Practice Guideline for the Performance of Thoracic CT Committee.

Eitan Kerem

Prof. Eitan Kerem, MD, a world known leader in Cystic Fibrosis research, is a principal investigator of numerous national and international multicenter clinical trials. He is the author of seminal publications in the field, including phenotype-genotype relationships, disease prognostic factors, the molecular mechanisms for disease variability, and the development of novel mutation-specific pharmacological therapies to correct the basic defects in cystic fibrosis.

His many interests extend beyond cystic fibrosis, and he has been central to studies examining environmental interactions with genetic diseases and its influence on the disease severity, genetic markers of asthma and allergy in closed populations, and variability of disease in closed populations exposed to different environments. Increasingly, his efforts have turned to understanding the genetics of primary ciliary dyskinesia in Jewish and Palestinian children. In addition he published leading papers on management of community acquired pneumonia in children and was the first to characterize nectrotizing pneumonia and risk factors for complicated pneumonia in children.

The promotion of the medical, ethical and rights aspects of children with chronic diseases is at the forefront of his interest. He published many papers in this field and is known for his advocacy for children in need.

He also has a record of building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians furthering peace through medicine wherever possible.

Professor Kerem received a number of prestigious awards the last being the European CF Society Award in 2014.

He has authored over 170 papers covering all aspects of Pulmonology. 

Amir Kugelman

Prof. Amir Kugelman is a Clinical Associate 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 Department of Neonatology in Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel and 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 Chroric 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.

Bernard Laya

Dr. Bernard F. Laya obtained his medical education at the University of Health Sciences in Kansas City, Missouri. He underwent Diagnostic Radiology Residency at Ohio University, Grandview Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, and Pediatric Radiology Fellowship at the combined program of the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital and Children’s Medical Center of Cincinnati in Ohio, USA. Dr. Bernard F. Laya is a Professor of Radiology and the Associate Dean for Research at St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine – William H. Quasha Memorial in Quezon City, Philippines. Concurrently, he is also the Director of Radiology at St. Luke’s Medical Center-Global City, and Head of Pediatric Radiology at St. Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City, Philippines. He is the President of the Philippine Society for Pediatric Radiology and Vice President of Asian Oceanean Society for Pediatric Radiology. He authored or co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed articles and has written chapters for 7 pediatric radiology textbooks. He is on the Editorial board of the Asian Oceanean Forum for Pediatric Radiology and reviewed articles for Pediatric Radiology Journal. His field of interest is childhood neuroimaging and chest imaging, quality and safety in medical imaging and medical education. For his interest and experience on childhood tuberculosis (TB), Dr. Laya was elected as the lead radiologist on the TB initiatives of the world federation of pediatric imaging (WFPI) from 2015-2017. In 2016, he received the Hall of Fame Award at St. Luke's Medical Center, and was given the “Society for Pediatric Radiology Honorary Member Award for 2016” at the International Pediatric Radiology Congress in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Fernando D. Martinez

Dr. Fernando D. Martinez is a Regents’ Professor and Director of the Asthma & Airway Disease Research Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Dr. Martinez is a world-renowned expert, and one of the most highly regarded researchers, in the field of childhood asthma.  His primary research interests are the natural history, genetics, and treatment of childhood asthma.

His groundbreaking research has had an impact on his field in numerous ways, most prominent among them the development of the concept of the early origins of asthma and COPD.  This concept is now widely accepted as the potential basis for the design of new strategies for the prevention of these devastating illnesses affecting millions of children and adults worldwide. In addition, Dr. Martinez has made important contributions to our understanding of the role of gene-environment interactions in the development of asthma and allergies. He has also been the principal investigator of one of the Clinical Centers that are part of the NHLBI Asthma Treatment Networks, which have contributed fundamental new evidence on which to base national guidelines for the treatment of the disease.

Dr. Martinez currently serves on national scientific boards including the NHLBI National Advisory Council and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.  He was a member of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program that was responsible for the development of the Expert Panel Report: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma in 1997 and its first revision in 2001. He also has been a member of the FDA Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee and the Board of Extramural Advisors of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).  

Dr. Martinez’s research and vision are well detailed in more than 250 original research papers and editorials, many in collaboration with investigators from all over the world. He is frequently invited to give keynote presentations at national and international meetings.

Hiroyuki Mochizuki

Hiroyuki Mochizuki, M.D., PhD.
Department of Pediatrics, Tokai University, School of Medicine,Professor & Chairman
63 years　(May 25, 1955), Male

- Education:
1975-81  Gunma University, School of Medicine (Maebashi, Gunma, Japan)
- Institution:
1981-88    Department of Pediatrics, Gunma University, School of medicine
1989-91    University of California, San Francisco, Cardiovascular Research
- Institute (Research Fellow)
1991-2009  Department of Pediatrics, Gunma University, School of medicine
2009-      Department of Pediatrics, Tokai University School of Medicine,
- Major Area of Study
Pediatric Allergy and Pulmonology
・Infantile asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in asthmatic children
・objective measurement of night cough in children with chronic cough
・lung sound analysis in children with wheeze/ asthma

Mohammad Ashkan Moslehi

Prof. Moslehi is a board certified in Interventional Pediatrics Pulmonologist. He is an associate Professor that works as head of Pediatrics Pulmonology Department at Shiraz University School of Medicine. He is working as Chair of World Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (WABIP) - Pediatric Section, Board of Regents in WABIP, cofounder and Vice Chairman of Asian Pediatric Interventional Pulmonology Association (APIPA) and also Head of Iran Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology Group in WABIP.
He also works as a National Delegate Officer of European Respiratory Society (ERS). He has worked and held as GINA and GOLD assembly. First Iranian pediatrics bronchoscopy suite was started to work by him. He was trained in Fibroptic and Rigid Bronchoscopy methods. He is expert in bronchoscopy techniques such as foreign bodies removal, transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB), bronchial biopsy (BB), Correct subglottic and bronchial stenosis, brushing, Cryotherapy, APC, Electrocautery knife surgery, Balloon dilatation, Endobronchial mass resection, bronchoalveolar lavage(BAL) and also pleuroscopy including pleural biopsies.
More than 2000  bronchoscopy procedures per year have done by him (aged from 1 day neonate to early adulthood).
He is the chairman of Annual Middle East Pediatric Bronchoscopy workshop.
Dr. Moslehi is board member of Middle East Cystic Fibrosis Association and also cofounder of First Iranian Cystic Fibrosis Society.
He is expert in providing and evaluating the lung function test. He is the author of several peer reviewed articles, abstracts, providing Global Workshops and has various oral and poster presentations worldwide. He serves as pediatrics PH specialist in Pulmonary Hypertension Association.
He is also work as official representative of Rare Lung Diseases foundation and Children Interstitial Disease (Ch-ILD).
Recently he started to form International Pediatric Airway Team (INPAT) society and becomes as a worldwide expert in this regard. He now serves as WABIP Awards Committee (which Awards reviews nomination and award applications for the Killian Centenary Medal, WABIP-Dumon Award and the Heinrich Becker Awards for Research and Clinical Innovation).

Kenshin Nawa

Kenshin Nawa is Founder of CCHS family network, Japan
President of CCHS Japan Association “Building Future for CCHS Children Living with Ventilators”
2008 Founded CCHS family network, Japan with five families.
2009-2017
Produced several workshops for CCHS children and their families with grants from major corporations.
Created website and online communication system for CCHS families.
2013 Published “a study of CCHS children and advanced home medical ”
2013-2018 Produced five national CCHS conferences with doctors with attendance of 130 to 200 participants each year.
2016 Founded CCHS Japan Association “Building Future for CCHS Children Living with Ventilators”
Made a presentation at Prime Minister’s office on “CCHS children and their advanced home medical”
Produced a short animation “CCHS awareness” in the U.S., and provided the format to other countries.
2018 Participated International CCHS conference in the U.S. with Drs. Hasegawa and Yamada.
Made a presentation for Medical School of Chiba University on “CCHS children and advanced home medical” - CCHS family network, families.
He is a father of three daughters living in Tokyo.
When his first daughter was born with CCHS, he searched for information outside of Japan because almost no information was available. He got to know Prof, Bruce Rubin and Prof, Andrew Bush through his best friend, Paul Bush, who is a remarkable film artist.
He is a film director/writer in advertising, television, and motion picture industries filming around the world.

Teruo Okano

Teruo Okano is currently Emeritus Professor at Tokyo Women’s Medical University (TWMU), and Distinguished Adjunct Professor and Director of Cell Sheet Tissue Engineering Center at University of Utah, U.S.A.  He received his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry at Waseda University, TOKYO.  Hehad initiated innovative research institute, TWIns (TWMU and Waseda University Joint Institution for Advanced Science), in 2008 as Director for fusing medicine and engineering for future advanced medicine.

He is the author or co-author of more than 1,000 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as over 250 books and book chapters; the citations are 82,263 and h-index is 149.  He is Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Fellow of Science Council of Japan, Fellow of the Controlled Release Society and Fellow of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society.  He is the recipient of the numerous awards including Emperor’s Medal with Purple Ribbon (National Meritorious Achievement Award) (2009), Commendation for Science & Technology (Education Ministry) (2009), Leona Esaki Prize (2005), Clemson Award for Basic Research (Society for Biomaterials) (1997).  The latest additions are; the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Polymer Science and Technology from Society of Polymer Science Japan (2013), the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biomaterial Science from Japanese Society for Biomaterial (2014) and TERMIS-AP Excellence Achievement Award (2018).

Petr Pohunek

Prof. Petr Pohunek, MD PhD FCCP. Head, Division of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases, Pediatric Department, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic.

Chairman of the Czech Society for Pediatric Pulmonology.

Chairman, Group 7.7 (Pediatric Bronchology) of the Pediatric Assembly of the European Respiratory Society.

Main research interest: Pediatric Asthma; Primary ciliary dyskinesia; Pediatric chronic respiratory diseases.

Jean-Paul Praud

Prof. Jean-Paul Praud is a Pediatric Pulmonologist at the Sherbrooke University Hospital, Quebec, Canada, and Director, Center for Research into Maternal and Child Health, University of Sherbrooke. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Neonatal Respiratory Physiology since 2009.

He was co-founder of CIPP and Past-President, CIPP V. He has been President, ICPP-The Course, since 2007. He was a member of the Central Organizing Committee of all CIPP meetings and ICPP-Courses.

He is internationally renowned for his unique research contributions in the field of neonatal respiration, nasal respiratory support and sleep apneas.

Aroonwan Preutthipan

Dr. Aroonwan Preutthipan is Professor and Directors of Pediatric Pulmonary Division and also Ramathibodi Hospital Sleep Disorder Center, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.  She has been elected as the President of Sleep Society of Thailand since 2016.

For her professional training background, she earned Board of Pediatrics and Subboard in Pediatric Pulmonology in Thailand in 1992. Then she proceeded to gain more experience working as a visiting faculty for 2 years at Divisions of Pediatric Respiratory Sciences, Pediatric Sleep and Breathing Disorders Center and Pediatric Intensive care, the John Hopkins Children’s Center, Maryland, USA.  At that time, Professor Carole Marcus was one of her mentors. 

From the result of hard working, she was given a prestigious Governors Community Service Award for the project, Home Mechanical Ventilation for Children in Thailand, from the Chest Foundation, the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) in 2003.  And as a President of Sleep Society of Thailand, she is going to receive Distinguished Activity Award from the World Sleep Society this coming November in Vancouver, Canada.

She has written book chapters, research manuscripts, been a reviewer of a number of journals and given talks in international meetings. Her topics mainly focus on obstructive sleep apnea, home mechanical ventilation and respiratory care.

Giovanni Rossi

Giovanni A. Rossi is the former chief of the Pulmonary and Allergy Units and of the Cystic Fibrosis Centre at the G. Gaslini Research Institute and University Hospital in Genoa and the former adjunct Professor of Paediatric Pulmonology at the University of Genoa, Italy. He is at present Chief Emeritus at the Gaslini Research Institute and University Hospital.
He graduated from the University of Genoa, Italy and trained in Respiratory Medicine at the San Martino University Hospital, in Genoa, and then at the Pulmonary Branch of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, U.S.A., as Visiting Associate.
Dr. Rossi was Member of the Executive Committee of the Société Européenne de Physiologie Clinique Respiratoire, Chairman of the "Lung Cell Biology" Assembly of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), Member of the ERS Executive Committee, society of which he has been recently appointed “Foundation Fellow”. He also served as an Associate Editor on the Editorial Boards of several respiratory, allergy and pediatric journals. He has published >300 manuscripts in peer reviewed journals and has at present a H. index of 52.
Dr. Rossi’s major areas of basic and clinical research have been the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of a variety of respiratory disorders, including interstitial, obstructive and infectious diseases. In this last field, his work has focused mainly on the characterization of the host-virus interaction at lower respiratory tract level, with the aim of developing novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of these high-impact respiratory disorders for which specific therapies are often not yet available.

Bruce Rubin

Prof. Bruce Rubin is the Jessie Ball duPont Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and Physician in Chief of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond. He is also Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Adjunct Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at VCU. Prof Rubin is a pediatric pulmonary physician and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC). As a Rhodes Scholar, he trained as a post doc in Biomedical Engineering at Oxford University and 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 School of Business.

Dr. Rubin received the 2008 Forrest M. Bird Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award, the top research honor given by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), in 2011 he presented the Phil Kittredge Memorial Keynote lecture at the AARC in 2012, he was awarded Jimmy Young Memorial medal from the AARC. He holds honorary appointments in 4 medical schools. He is on the editorial board of 12 medical journals, has published more than 300 original research papers and chapters and holds nine patents. Dr. Rubin and his research team study aerosol therapy for lung diseases, airway inflammation and excessive mucus that contributes to lung disease.

He is also an accomplished magician, an elected member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and over the past 25 years had taught medical magic in 30 countries on 5 continents.

Sejal Saglani

Sejal Saglani is Reader in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London and Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Paediatrics, Royal Brompton Hospital, London.
The focus of her research includes: 1) mechanisms underlying the development of wheezing disorders in preschool children and factors that determine progression to childhood asthma, and management of preschool wheezing using inflammatory and infective airway phenotypes. 2) Diagnosis and management of paediatric severe therapy resistant asthma and mechanisms mediating the pathophysiology of severe disease to determine novel therapeutic targets.
She runs a translational research programme incorporating a neonatal murine model of inhaled allergen exposure and bronchoscopic airway samples from children with severe wheezing and asthma.

Ayako Sasaki

Ayako Sasaki, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Department of Pediatrics at the Yamagata University School of Medicine. She specialized in Neonatology in Matsudo City Hospital in Chiba and is currently Deputy Chief of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Yamagata University Medical School Hospital.

Her clinical and research interests include Neonatal Pulmonology and Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS). She works with Emeritus Professor Kiyoshi Hayasaka and her laboratory performs genetic diagnosis of CCHS in Japan. She has published clinical and genetic features of Japanese CCHS patients.

Leopoldo N. SEGAL

Leopoldo N. Segal, MD, MSc, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and the Director of the Lung Microbiome Program at NYU. Dr. Segal has been studying the human microbiome since 2010. He received his initial medical training in Argentina and completed his Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship and Master in Science at NYU School of Medicine. His laboratory has been at the forefront of exploring lower airway microbiota signatures in health and disease. Although the lungs have long been thought to be sterile, recently developed culture-independent techniques show that the lower airways of healthy individuals commonly harbor microbes. This microbial environment consists of a diverse mixture of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, collectively called the microbiome. After sampling the lower airway by bronchoscopy, Dr. Segal uses next-generation sequencing to define complex microbial communities of commensal lung bacteria.

His research has described how microbes interact with the host immune response, which may lead to inflammatory destruction of lung parenchyma and airway remodeling. Using a translational approach that combines human cohorts and in vivo and ex vivo models, he evaluates the relationships among the lung microbiome, metagenome, metabolome, and host immune responses. Dr. Segal’s discoveries reveal how lower airway dysbiosis, characterized by enrichment with microbes commonly found in the upper airways, is associated with increased lung inflammation. His laboratory’s goal is to identify microbial signatures that are associated with proinflammatory changes in patients with chronic inflammatory airway diseases, HIV, and cancer.

Kunling Shen

Professor Kunling Shen,
China National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases; Department of Respiratory Medicine, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University; National Center for Children’s Health, China.
Professor of Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Chief of China National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases. She is the President of Asian Pediatric Pulmonology Society, President of Asian Society for Paediatric Research, Standing committee member of Asian Pediatric Association, vice president of Chinese Medical Doctor Association pediatrician branch, Immediate past president of Chinese Pediatric Society.

Varinder Singh

Dr Varinder Singh,  Director Professor of Pediatrics, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Assoc Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital,  N Delhi, INDIA.
He trained at the prestigious Maulana Azad Medical College at N Delhi. He had the opportunity to work with the Pediatric Chest Disease unit at their leading Lok Nayak Hospital for 6 years before he joined as a Pediatric Consultant at the National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases at Delhi. This position helped him to sharpen his skills of respirology and TB. He led the pediatric services in this hospital for 5 years; during which time he also coordinated the massive training effort of the Country’s TB programme.  He then moved on to the current Institute to follow his passion of clinical teaching and research in 1998. He is recipient of the Commonwealth Academic staff fellowship in 2003 under Prof Andrew Bush at Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK. He currently runs the respiratory and bronchoscopy services at a major children’s hospital at Delhi. He has been instrumental in developing regional and National guidelines on Asthma, TB and Respiratory Infections. He is currently championing the cause of Rational Antimicrobial use.  He is a founder member and  currently the President of the Asian Pediatric Pulmonary Society. He has been in leadership positions for the Indian Academy of Paediatrics National Respiratory Chapter too.  He has been member of the Editorial Board of -Pediatric Respiratory Review, Indian Pediatrics, Indian Journal of Practical Pediatrics, etc.  He has been time and again involved with CIPP as a faculty since 2006.

Wen-Jue Soong

EDUCATION:
1971 - 1978 Medicine National Defense Medical Center, Taiwan, ROC

SPECIALIZED FIELD:
Pediatrics, Neonatology, Pulmonology, Bronchologist, Intensive Care Medicine, Emergency medicine

PROFEFESSIONAL FIELD:

PERIOD         POSITION   .                 INSTITUTE                                                 .

2018à          Professor                    National Defense Medical Center

2011-now    Chairman                    

1993-2011    Chief, PICU &               Taipei-Veteran General Hospital

                        General ped.

1997-2017    Assoc. professor          National Yang-Mining University

1988-1992   Attending Physician    Department of Pediatrics, Taipei-VGH

1986-1987   PICU-Fellow                  Children Hospital, Boston, MA. USA

                   NICU-Fellow                 Women Hospital, USC Los Angles, CA. USA

1985-1986   NICU-Fellow                  Babies Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY. USA                                                     

1983-1985   Resident                         Department of Pediatrics, Taipei-VGH

1980-1982   Resident                         Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei

Manuel Soto-Martínez

Dr. Manuel E. Soto-Martínez is an Assistant Professor of Paediatrics and Paediatric Pulmonology, 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 respiratory medicine at the Royal Children´s Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In addition, he completed his Masters in Epidemiology at the National University of Costa Rica (2013-2015). He is currently a Paediatric Respiratory Physician and Sleep Physician at the Respiratory Department, Hospital Nacional de Niños, San José, Costa Rica. 

His areas of expertise/research:

• - Paediatric Ashtma: severe asthma, asthma epidemiology
• - Respiratory infections
• - Paediatric bronchoscopy
• - Cystic Fibrosis
• - Non-Invasive ventilation, home oxygen
• - Respiratory related Sleep Disturbances
• - Respiratory Complications in Neuromuscular disease

Memberships:

• - Member of the American Thoracic Society
• - Member of the European Respiratory Society
• - Member of Asociación Latinoamericana de Tórax (ALAT)
• - Member of Asociación Costarricense de Tórax

Cojoint Responsabilities:

• - Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, Hospital Nacional de Niños, San José, Costa Rica
• - Coordinator Home Ventilation Program, Hospital Nacional de Niños, San José, Costa Rica. 
• - A/Prof. Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Universidad de Costa Rica
• - Member of the Postgraduate in Paediatrics’ Academic Committee, Universidad de Costa Rica

Renato Stein

Renato T. Stein, MD, MPH, PhD graduated in Medicine in 1979 from Pontifícia Universidade Católica, in Porto Alegre, Brazil where he completed his residency in Pediatrics in 1982. He took over as Assistant Professor at the Department of Pediatrics in 1986, and from 1987 to 1989 was a fellow in the Pediatric Pulmonary Service in Toronto, at The Hospital for Sick Children. In 1994 Dr. Stein took a position as a research fellow in Tucson, Arizona, where he worked with the Children’s Respiratory Study cohort, publishing in the field of risk factors related to asthma in children. In 2011 he did a 6 months sabaticcal in the Center for Environmental Epidemiology, in Barcelona, Spain. In Brazil Dr. Stein has been leading a large and productive group of researchers at his Institution. His main areas of interest are the relation between respiratory viruses and recurrent wheeze, asthma phenotypes, impact of the environment on respiratory health, and respiratory disease of preterm infants.

Alexander Tuazon

Alexander Ocampo Tuazon, MD, MDE. Philippine Board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Pulmonology, active in teaching, research and clinical practice. A holder of a Master in Distance Education. Professor in Pediatrics, past Director of the Institute of Child Health and Human Development, University of the Philippines Manila. Current Head, Section of Pediatric Pulmonology at the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila, Vice President of the Philippine Pediatric Society and Member of the Philippine Subspecialty Board in Pediatric Pulmonology. Research interests include asthma, pulmonary infections and pulmonary physiology. Has published with book chapters, consensus statements on asthma, and research articles both in the Philippines and in international publications. An officer and member in a number of professional organizations involved in pediatrics, pediatric pulmonology, asthma, pharmacology, and pharmaceutical medicine. Contact Address: Section of Pulmonology, Department of Pediatrics, Philippine General Hospital, Taft Avenue, Manila, Philippines.

Stijn Verhulst

Prof. Stijn Verhulst, MD, PhD is professor in pediatrics at the University of Antwerp, Belgium and head of the pediatric pulmonoly and sleep unit at the Antwerp University Hospital. He is also director of the Antwerp Cystic Fibrosis Center and consultant at Inkendaal Hospital, Belgium. His research mainly focuses on the complications and management of sleep-disordered breathing in children. He was co-chair of a European Respiratory Society Task force on obstructive sleep apnea in children. More recently, he started several new research projects in non-invasive ventilation, BPD and cystic fibrosis. He is author or co-author of more than 90 papers and book chapters in national and international journals.

Gary W.K. Wong

Professor Gary Wong obtained his undergraduate medical education from the University of Alberta, Canada. He subsequently received fellowship training at University of British Columbia, and Children’s Hospital of British Columbia and visiting Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital at Munich, Germany.

 Dr Wong’s main research interests are treatment and prevention and control of asthma, and respiratory infections. He is the current President of the Asia-Pacific Association of Pediatric Allergy, Respirology and Immunology (APAPARI). He has been one of the Board of Directors of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and one of the GINA Assembly members since 2008. He is one of the steering committee members of the ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) research group. He has published over 230 original articles, review papers, and book chapters in the field of asthma and related atopic conditions. Among other duties within several editorial boards, he is also an associate editor of New England Journal of Medicine, and one of the Section Editors of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

Current Post: Professor and honorary consultant, Department of Paediatrics and School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Yosuke Yamada

Dr. Yosuke Yamada is Research associate and Consultant of Neonatology at Tokyo Women’s Medical University Medical Center East.
He graduated from Chiba University in 2006. After he finished pediatric training at Chiba University and Funabashi Municipal Medical Center, he currently works at Tokyo Women’s Medical University as Neonatologist and Pediatric Pulmonologist since 2011. In 2017, he studied clinical research as Research Fellow at Kings College Hospital in London.
His main research interest is respiratory management of Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS). His first presentation at international conference was about Ventilatory response to carbon dioxide in CCHS at CIPP XII, he was elected Young Investigator Award Finalist. He got into CCHS research from then.
He and his boss Prof. Hasegawa have established and spread CCHS Respiratory dock (CCHS comprehensive respiratory check-up) at his center. The center has the largest population of CCHS patients, it accounts for about 1/3 of all patients in Japan. He is a member of committee of making guidelines for management of CCHS in Japan. Through these activities, he contributes to improvement of management in CCHS.

Heather Zar

Heather Zar is Professor and Chair of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Director of the School of Child and Adolescent Health at Red Cross Childrens Hospital at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. After specialising in Paediatrics she did a fellowship in Paediatric Pulmonology, then a PhD. She is based at Red Cross Childrens Hospital, one of the largest dedicated childrens’ hospital in Africa.  She leads a large department in providing care for sick children,  training of undergraduate and post graduate students, undertaking research and advocacy to promote child health. Her work on childhood respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis, pneumonia, asthma and HIV-associated lung diseases has been internationally recognized; she has published more than 200 peer reviewed publications and has substantial international grant support. She has established a strong training program in childhood lung diseases including training several paediatricians in Africa. She currently serves as President of the Pan African Thoracic Society and President of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies. She received the World Lung Health award in 2014.