UTS Chair of Inflammation update

Professor Phil Hansbro recognised as European Respiratory Society Fellow

Centenary Institute Deputy Director and Director of the Centenary UTS Centre for Inflammation, Professor Phil Hansbro has been selected to become a Fellow of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).

The Fellow of ERS award recognises excellence in contributions to research, education and clinical leadership in respiratory medicine.

 “The European Respiratory Society is one of the leading respiratory health organisation’s globally and I’m extremely proud to have been recognised with this honour,” said Professor Hansbro.

“I look forward to acting as an ERS ambassador and providing my input as a Fellow in support of the Society’s ongoing mission to promote lung health in order to alleviate suffering from disease,” he said.

Professor Hansbro will be formally introduced as a Fellow at the virtual ERS International Congress, taking place in September, 2020.

Further information on the award can be found here.

COVID-19 Research

Professor Hansbro’s team at the Centenary UTS Centre for Inflammation are refocussing some of their research to explore the hyper inflammatory effects seen in patients with severe COVID-19. Inflammation can have a harmful role in diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and, now, COVID-19.

This research is investigating a number of potential treatments that could be given to those most at risk of progressing to a more serious form of the disease. Prof Hansbro, who has long worked to understand the mechanisms of respiratory diseases like COPD and asthma, as a pathway to therapies, says existing treatments being used for these populations of patients may hold some of the answers for COVID-19.

“Researchers have been finding treatments that are effective against these disorders and the question is whether they could be used also to combat COVID-19,” he says.

Professor Hansbro has recently been elected to the Steering Committee of the World Congress of Inflammation to be held in Rome, September 2021.

Read Taking aim at targeted COVID-19 treatments to find out more about this potentially life-saving research.