About

Dr Kim Lavoie, PhD, FCPA, FABMR

Co-director,

Montreal Behavioural Medicine Centre

Canada

Dr Lavoie is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Quebec at Montreal and holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Medicine. She is also Co-Director of the Montréal Behavioural Medicine Centre (MBMC), a researcher at the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et service sociaux du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (CIUSSS-NIM), co-lead of the International Behavioural Trials Network (IBTN, https://www.ibtnetwork.org/), and Chair of the Canadian Network for Health Behaviour Change (https://can-change.ca/).

Her work focuses on three research areas: (1) The impact of psychological stress (e.g., depression, anxiety) and lifestyle factors (diet, exercise, smoking, adherence) on the development and progression of chronic illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular disease, asthma, COPD, obesity); (2) Psychophysiological and behavioural mechanisms linking psychological stress to disease; (3) Behavioural medicine (e.g., behavioural interventions for chronic illnesses, including motivational communication and cognitive-behavioural therapy).

Dr. Keren Priyadarshini

Regional Business Lead, Worldwide Health

Microsoft Asia

As Regional Business Lead of Worldwide Health for Microsoft Asia, Dr. Keren Priyadarshini leads the company’s healthcare business segment across 17 markers in Asia Pacific.

She is responsible for driving and implementing Microsoft’s healthcare initiatives across the region as well as developing solution offerings and strategies that meet the needs of healthcare and life science customers. She also plays a leading role in establishing thought leadership by defining and articulating the company’s vision for the future of healthcare and sharing how Microsoft technologies and partner solutions are making it a reality.

Keren is passionate about empowering providers, payers, and life science companies with the right technology to enable better patient outcomes at lower costs. Improving the quality of healthcare through digital transformation, enabling wider access to healthcare as life expectancy increases, and keeping rising costs in check are issues that keep her awake at night.Her desire is to create a world of ‘Intelligent Healthcare’ through AI and the cloud, to unlock biological insight and break data from silos for a truly personal understanding of human health and in turn, enable better access to care, lower costs and improved outcomes.

Dr Nicole Hass, PhD, MPH, MBA, MSc

Patient Access & Stakeholder Engagement

Spain

Nicole Hass has been involved in the chronic patient experience for several years, with extensive knowledge in the areas of patient advocacy, patient engagement and access.

In the last four years, she has focused especially on respiratory diseases, asthma, allergies, COPD, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. In 2020, she launched the national COPD patient association, Asociación de Pacientes con EPOC (APEPOC). She is the spokesperson and technical advisor, responsible for the strategic plans, relationship with the coordinators/patients and the committee of expert medical advisors.

In 2018 and 2019, Nicole was the advisor of the Federation of Respiratory Patients of Spain and was responsible for its Internationalization (incorporation and participation in advisory boards, congresses and working tables of the International Respiratory Patients Platform, the European Respiratory Patients Federation and of the European Lung Foundation).

Nicole holds a doctorate with cum laude qualification and special recognition award for the multidisciplinary and multistakeholder thesis. Program “Analysis of social & economic health trends”. She also has a Masters’ in Public Health Administration (MPH), a Masters’ in Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility and a Masters’ in Business Administration and Management.

Olivia Fulton

Volunteer,

Respiratory Voices Network, Asthma + Lung

UK

Olivia is a severe asthma patient advocate, former nurse and Patient Chair for the Severe Heterogenous Asthma Research collaboration - Patient centred, an ERS CRC.

Having originally studied Sports Science, severe asthma prevented a career in sport and a career change to nursing was stopped short again due to severe life threatening asthma. Volunteering with various charities such as Asthma + Lung UK, Olivia has been involved in collaborating with researchers, reviewing lay summaries and PhD proposals.

She is a trustee of ICU steps and chair of ICU steps Edinburgh, which runs peer support groups for patients who are admitted to an intensive care unit for critical illness. She also writes about her own experience of being a patient, volunteer and advocate for those with long-term health conditions. She has written for the TEVA: Life Effects Platform and has had her own blog for over 14 years (www.anonymousasthma.me) charting her life from a young adult until now.

Sinthia Bosnic-Anticevich

Professor

University of Sydney

Australia

Sinthia is a medical researcher, respiratory pharmacist and professor at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is a widely renowned expert in respiratory medicines and their use. Specifically, her research focuses on optimising the use of respiratory medicines to improve the health outcome of patients.

She is the founder and head of the Quality Use of Respiratory Medicines Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and the University of Sydney and is extensively involved in respiratory associations such as the Respiratory Effectiveness Group (REG) and Allergic Rhinitis in Asthma (ARIA). Additionally, she sits on the editorial board of several prestigious international journals and advisory boards for the pharmaceutical industry, related to the use of medicines for respiratory disease management.

Throughout her career, Sinthia has contributed to over 200 research publications, which have led to the development of international and national guidelines and standards for the use of inhalers for respiratory conditions such as asthma, COPD, and allergic rhinitis.

Pierluigi Paggiaro

Professor

Department of Surgery, Medicine, Molecular Biology,
and Critical Care,

University of Pisa

Italy

Pierluigi was a full professor of diseases of the respiratory system at the University of Pisa and the Director of the Physiopathology and Respiratory Unit until 2018. A prominent researcher in the field of airway diseases, Pierluigi has over 320 publications in international scientific journals. He has extensive clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases such as asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, interstitial diseases, and pneumonia. He has been the Principal investigator of several phase 2-phase 3 clinical trials in asthma, COPD and bronchiectasis, and director of several research projects funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, Italian Agency of the Drug (AIFA), Tuscany Region and pharmaceutical companies.

Between 2005 and 2015, he was a member of the Board of Directors of GINA International, and Chairman of the GINA Mediterranean Initiative. Till now, he serves as the Chairman of the GINA Italy Initiative. He is also heavily involved with the European Respiratory Society and other prominent Italian and international networks for airway diseases.

Pierluigi graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pisa in 1972. He then obtained postgraduate qualifications in Occupational Medicine, Respiratory Medicine and Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and has completed post-doctoral fellowships at the University of British Columbia and at the San Francisco General Hospital.

Zuleid Dantas Linhares Mattar

Director of Government Policy,

Associação Brasileira de Asmáticos (ABRA)

Brazil

Zuleid is a pneumologist and paediatrician with over 30 years of experience working on respiratory diseases, with an emphasis on asthma. She is a founding member and was formerly the president of the Brazilian Association of Asthmatics (ABRA), where she currently oversess government policy initiatives and international relations. Additionally, she has a background in patient advocacy and is a member of the Global Allergy and Asthma Patient Platform (GAAPP).

Zuleid graduated with a degree in medicine from the Federal University of Uberlândia. She has a specialisation in Pediatrics from UNIFESP, and has a Masters’ degree in in Child Nutrition from Boston University.

Xuan Jianwei

Director of Health Economics Research Institute,

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University

China

Dr. Jianwei Xuan has more than 20 years of research, teaching, and global leadership experience at major Universities such as Sun Yat-sen University， University of Florida, Fudan University, and several multinational pharmaceutical companies. Jianwei has led multiple global health economic and market access teams and conducted high impact health policy, health economics, comparative effectiveness, outcomes research, epidemiology and market access research to support evidence-based decision-making processes. His research has been adapted in numerous countries to support formulating national health care policy, designing drug reimbursement formularies, and supporting government decision making. Before entering industry, he worked as a medical reviewer in the China FDA for more than 6 years.

Dr. Xuan obtained his Ph.D. in Health Economics from the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed his medical degree at Shanghai Medical University, China. Dr. Xuan also published extensively, has established a broad professional network with global key opinion leaders and has led numerous global policy forums, advisory boards, and government/payer panel discussions. Dr. Xuan is advisor to multiple Chinese government agencies regarding health economic and market access policies.