Professor Jørgen Vestbo: advances on the management of COPD

Introduction

Professor Jørgen Vestbo (Figure 1) is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Manchester and an Honorary Consultant at the North West Lung Centre, University Hospital South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. His professional training consisted of specialist training in Internal Medicine and Respiratory Medicine in university hospitals in Copenhagen. He obtained a DrMedSci degree from the University of Copenhagen in 1992.

Figure 1 Professor Jørgen Vestbo was speaking on the 25^th ERS International Congress 2015. ERS, European Respiratory Society.

He has taken part in developing international guidelines for the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as member of a working group establishing new standards of care (Guidelines) in COPD for The American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society, 2001-2004, and as member of the Board of Directors for the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 2006-2013. He has chaired the Scientific Committee of GOLD 2009-2013 and was as such responsible for the 2011 revision; he is still a committee member.

Professor Jørgen Vestbo is currently the President of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). During the 25^th ERS International Congress held in Amsterdam this year, we were honored to have an interview with Professor Jørgen Vestbo, who has shared with us the advances and researches on the management of COPD, as well as the most impressive experience in working on COPD guidelines.

Interview (Figure 2)

Figure 2 Professor Jørgen Vestbo: advances on the management of COPD (1). Available online: http://www.asvide.com/articles/718

Interview questions:

• As you have given an important speech on the Advancement of COPD. What are the major advancements on the management of COPD in recent years?
• What are the major barriers that still hinder the management of COPD at present?
• As you have taken part in the work of international guidelines for the diagnosis and management of COPD. What are the major difficulties when you are working on the guidelines?
• The researches on COPD are going forward. Could you share some important clinical trials in this field?

Acknowledgements

None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

1. He CX. Professor Jørgen Vestbo: advances on the management of COPD. Asvide 2015;2:142. Available online: http://www.asvide.com/articles/718

[Science Editor: Chao-Xiu (Melanie) He, JTD, jtd@amepc.org]