International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Dr Richard Russell

Clinical Reader, King's Centre for Lung Health, Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

Dr. Richard E.K. Russell trained at Guy’s Hospital, he further specialized in respiratory medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He completed a PhD as a BLF Research Fellow under the supervision of Professor Peter Barnes. Dr. Russell is a Consultant at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and is the Clinical Director of the West Hampshire Integrated Respiratory Service, as well as a Senior Clinical Researcher at the Nuffield Dept. of Medicine, University of Oxford.

Dr. Russell has interests in obstructive lung disease, particularly pathophysiology of COPD and how patients should be cared for across the primary/secondary care interface. He has been a member of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Executive, Scientific Committee and the Communications Committee, is active in the British Lung Foundation. As founding editor of the International Journal of COPD (impact Factor 2.9), Dr. Russell is keen to increase the awareness of COPD and provide a platform for advances in the understanding of COPD pathology.

As well as being on the editorial board for Geriatric Medicine, Prescriber and The Lung Perspectives, he is a peer reviewer for Thorax, AJRCCM, AJRCMB, APS Lung, and Journal of COPD. Dr. Russell also contributes regularly to the BBC and other mainstream media.

 

Dr Vanesa Bellou

Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Respiratory Medicine, General Hospital of Arta, Arta, Greece

Dr. Vanesa Bellou is a Consultant Respiratory Physician at the General Hospital of Arta in Greece, with dual appointments in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Respiratory Medicine. She completed her medical degree at the University of Ioannina Medical School, where she graduated summa cum laude at the top of her class. Dr. Bellou subsequently earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the same institution with her thesis "Deciphering the etiologic and prognostic map of respiratory diseases," which was awarded the highest distinction (summa cum laude). Her doctoral studies were funded by a prestigious scholarship from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation, having also been offered the distinguished Onassis Foundation Scholarship.

Dr. Bellou's research focuses on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prognostic modeling in respiratory diseases, and the environmental epidemiology of pulmonary conditions. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including the European Respiratory Journal, BMJ, Chest, and The Lancet Neurology. Her systematic reviews and meta-analyses on environmental risk factors for respiratory and neurological diseases are highly cited in the field.

In addition to her clinical and research work, Dr. Bellou has served as an Adjunct Lecturer and Teaching Assistant at the University of Ioannina Medical School, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in respiratory medicine, biostatistics, and epidemiology. She is actively involved in multiple international research collaborations, including participation in guideline development groups such as PRISMA-PF and TRIPOD-AI. In 2024, Dr. Bellou was selected for the prestigious ERN-Lung Online Academy fellowship, which included a practical training at St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, a center of excellence for rare respiratory diseases and cystic fibrosis.

Dr. Bellou serves as an editor for several scientific journals, including the European Respiratory Journal, where she was selected for the competitive Early Career Editorial Team Mentoring Program. She is a member of the Hellenic Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society, and regularly participates as a principal or sub-investigator in clinical trials focused on COPD management. In 2024, she received board certification in Smoking Cessation from the Hellenic Thoracic Society after successfully completing national examinations, further enhancing her expertise in addressing a key factor in COPD management.

Her expertise in advanced epidemiological methods, combined with her clinical experience in respiratory medicine, provides a unique perspective on the evolving landscape of COPD research and treatment.

Dr Fanny Wai San Ko

Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong

Dr. Ko is a specialist respiratory physician consultant in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. She is also the Honorary Clinical Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Ko graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. After graduation, she completed full training in internal and respiratory medicine at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. With the support of the Croucher Foundation Scholarship and the Hong Kong Lung Foundation Fellowship, she also completed a year of research training at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research at the University of Sydney in Australia. Dr Ko's main research interests are asthma and COPD, and she obtained her MD degree in 2007 based on her research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was elected as a Fellow of the European Respiratory Society in 2022.

Dr. Ko is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), Chairman of the Hong Kong Lung Foundation, and Medical Advisor of the Hong Kong Asthma Society. She is also a Past President of the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and past Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Allergy.

She has been the Senior Editor of Respirology since 2013. In addition, she has been the Associate Editor of European Respiratory Review, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Journal of the COPD Foundation and International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. She is also the Editorial Board Member of European Respiratory Journal, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: in Practice.

Dr Jill Ohar

Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Immunology, School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

Jill Ohar earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania and her medical degree from Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Her postdoctoral training included an internship in obstetrics/ gynecology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and a residency in medicine at Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, where she completed a subsequent clinical fellowship in pulmonary diseases and critical care. She has served on the faculty at Saint Louis University and is currently a tenured professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Dr. Ohar is a clinical investigator and the author or coauthor of numerous journal articles, reviews, abstracts, and book chapters. Her current research interests focus on occupational pulmonary disease and the diagnosis/delivery of care to COPD patients. She is a member and a past officer of the American College of Physicians, the American Thoracic Society, and a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Professor Min Zhang

Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

Min Zhang, M.D., Ph.D. Senior Pulmonologist, Director and Chief, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, China.

Professor Min Zhang trained at Shanghai Medical University and China, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine China. Being a research fellow at National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London for one year. She is now the associate director, Asthma and Allergy Association of Chinese Respiratory Physician Association, Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA) and committee member of Chinese Thoracic Society, Chinese Medical Association (CMA).