Overview

This instalment of ERS Vision Live featured an expert panel, co-chaired by Prof. Dr Claus Franz Vogelmeier and Prof. Dr Marta Drummond. The panel provided a COPD - global initiative 2025 update.

The expert panellists discussed key topics, including:

• COPD origin in an abnormal lung development;
• Exacerbations - their importance and impact on disease progression, prevention and treatment strategies, and the relevance of eosinophilic vs. non-eosinophilic types;
• Cardiovascular risk in COPD.

Co-Chairs

Prof. Dr Claus Franz Vogelmeier

• Claus is a Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at the Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany.

• He is board certified in internal medicine, in pulmonary medicine, in cardiology and in allergology.

• Claus is an active member of several respiratory societies, including the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society. Since 2014, he has served as Chair of the Science Committee of Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD).

Prof. Dr Marta Drummond

• Marta is a pulmonology consultant specialising in COPD, asthma, sleep disordered breathing and non-invasive ventilation (NIV).
• She is Professor of Medicine and Head of the Sleep and NIV Unit at the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário São João, Porto.

Speakers

Prof. Alvar Agusti

• Alvar is Professor of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and Senior Consultant at Hospital Clinic, also in Barcelona.
• His main research interest relates to clinical and translational research in chronic airway diseases.
• Over the past few years, he has led several important conceptual changes in the field of COPD, including that of treatable traits and the trajectome.

• He is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of GOLD.

Prof. Wisia Wedzicha

• Wisia is Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Head of the Respiratory Division at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College Clinical Consul at Imperial College and Honorary Consultant at Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals.
• She has a major interest in the causes, mechanisms, impact and prevention of COPD exacerbations; and in the role of bacterial and viral infection in COPD exacerbations.
• Wisia directs an active research group to study COPD exacerbations and has published extensively on these topics.

• She also directs the multi-centre British Early COPD Cohort (BEACON) designed to study the trajectory of the early stages of COPD.

Prof. John Hurst

• John is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at University College London, UK, and an Honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
• He has a particular interest in COPD exacerbations, clinical trials and cardiovascular risk in COPD.