NTM Task Force — meet the experts

Stefano Aliberti is Chief of Respiratory Unit at Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, Italy.

He specialises in respiratory infectious diseases, including bronchiectasis and pneumonia.

He is Founder and Co-chair of The European Bronchiectasis Registry (EMBARC) and Work Package Leader of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Clinical Research Collaboration (EMBARC 2) for Clinical Trials Support and Feasibility.

He is Director of the Italian Registry of Adults with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (IRIDE), the Italian Registry on Pulmonary Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria (IRENE) and Director of the bronchiectasis and NTM Program at the Policlinico University Hospital in Milan, Italy.

Stefano Aliberti is also Chair of the ERS END-COVID Clinical Research Collaboration and Associate Editor (chest infections) for Chest.

Charles Haworth is a Respiratory Consultant working within the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection at Royal Papworth Hospital and an Honorary Consultant in at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK.

He is the senior author of the US Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and European Cystic Fibrosis Society non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) guidelines and first author of the British Thoracic Society NTM guidelines. He also co-authored the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the British Thoracic Society bronchiectasis guidelines.

Charles Haworth has been co-chief Investigator of three international multicentre novel therapy clinical trials in bronchiectasis and is a steering committee and scientific committee member of the European Bronchiectasis Registry (EMBARC).

Jakko van Ingen is a Consultant Clinical Microbiologist and Head of the Mycobacteriology Reference Laboratory at Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands.

His research group focuses on the pharmacodynamics of antimycobacterial drugs and the development of new treatment regimens for non-tuberculous mycobacterial disease (NTM).

He is an international consultant on the treatment of mycobacterial disease and has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and 10 book chapters.

Jakko van Ingen is a member of several international diagnosis and treatment guideline committees and has co-authored the ATS/ERS/ESCMID/IDSA 2020 guideline for the treatment of NTM pulmonary disease (NTM-PD).

Mateja Jankovic is Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb and a physician at the Clinical Center for Pulmonary Diseases Jordanovac, Zagreb, Croatia.

She founded the Croatian National Registry for people with respiratory non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) isolates and NTM pulmonary disease (PD). The purpose of the registry is to understand the epidemiology of NTM-PD, identify risk factors for development of NTM-PD and monitor treatment outcomes.

She is Secretary of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) Executive Committee on Mycobacterial Infections (ESGMYC).

Mateja Jankovic has co-authored over 50 articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Christoph Lange is Medical Director and Chief of Medicine of the Medical Clinic at the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) and Head of the Clinical Tuberculosis Center at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). He is Professor of Respiratory Medicine & International Health at the University of Lübeck.

His scientific work predominantly focuses on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and the development and implementation of Precision Medicine for the benefit of patients affected by mycobacterial infections. Professor Lange was a joint first-author of the recent ATS/ERS/ESCMID/IDSA 2020 guideline for the treatment of non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary diseases (NTM-PD).

Christoph Lange is Associated Professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and Associate Professor at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Chișinău, Moldova where he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2013.

Michael Loebinger is Professor of Practice (Respiratory Medicine) at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College and Consultant Respiratory Physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

His research interests focus on chronic lung infections, in particular idiopathic bronchiectasis and Aspergillus, Pseudomonas and non-tuberculosis mycobacterial (NTM) infections. He is investigating host susceptibility to these infections, in addition to the development of biomarkers to assist in their management.

Michael Loebinger co-chaired the British Thoracic Society (BTS) bronchiectasis guidelines and co-wrote the European Respiratory Society (ERS) bronchiectasis guidelines and BTS NTM guidelines. He chaired the BTS Specialist Advisory Group for Respiratory Infections and is chair of the ERS Respiratory Infection Group

Natalie Lorent is Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, specialising in bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, and respiratory infections, with a special interest for mycobacterial diseases.

Natalie Lorent is co-Chair of the Respiratory Infections Working Group of the Belgian Respiratory Society (BeRS) and a member of the Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis Working Group of the Belgium Lung and Tuberculosis Association (BELTA-TBnet). She coordinates the national multidisciplinary board for non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections. 

She is also active in the development cooperation initiative between the Democratic Republic of Congo and LUMOS/UZLeuven.

Apostolos Papavasileiou is a pulmonologist at Athens Chest Diseases Hospital ‘Sotiria’ in Greece. Dr Papavasileiou serves as Chief of the Division of Mycobacterial Infections, which is the top referral centre for mycobacteria providing state-of-the-art care for patients with mycobacterial infections as well as consultation to referring physicians all over the country.

His main areas of expertise spanning more than 30 years are mycobacterial diseases. He has focused on clinical and epidemiological studies and he is interested in new drugs and treatment regimens.

Apostolos Papavasileiou is a member of the Hellenic Thoracic Society (HTS) Working Group for Mycobacterial Diseases as well as the Global Tuberculosis Network (GTN). He has developed national guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of mycobacterial infections in collaboration with the HTS and the Hellenic National Public Health Organization.  

Eva Polverino is Senior Investigator in Respiratory Infection at Vall D’Hebron Instuitut de Recerca (VHIR), Spain.

She is a co-investigator and collaborator in numerous clinical trials and European Projects. She is currently conducting research on bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, antimicrobial resistance, immunodeficiencies in respiratory diseases and respiratory physiotherapy.

Eva Polverino is Chair of Assembly 10 (Respiratory Infections) of the European Respiratory Society and Co-chair of The European Bronchiectasis Registry (EMBARC) and author of more than 100 scientific publications, including lead author for the European Respiratory Society (ERS) guidelines on the management of bronchiectasis.

Gernot Rohde is Full Professor and Head of Respiratory Medicine at Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Gernot Rohde has particular scientific interests in respiratory infections in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with a focus on viral pathogens as well as community acquired pneumonia. He is chairman of the executive board of CAPNETZ, one of the largest networks for community acquired pneumonia worldwide.

He has served numerous roles at the European Respiratory Society (ERS), including Chair of the Education Council.

Nicolas Veziris is Professor in Bacteriology at Sorbonne Université, head of the Bacteriology laboratory of Saint-Antoine Hospital and member of the French National Reference Centre for Mycobacteria, Assistance Publique-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP).

He has been a senior researcher in the Emergence and Diffusion of Multiple Resistance Against Antibiotics research team at the Centre for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Sorbonne Université in Paris since 2001. 

His research focuses on the treatment of mycobacterial infections and he consults on difficult to treat infections.

Nicolas Veziris has contributed to over 100 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles.

Martin Witzenrath is Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He is also Division Head of Pulmonary Inflammation and Vice Director of the Dept. for Infectious Diseases and Respiratory Medicine.

He is an executive board member of the CAPNETZ Foundation, NUM-NAPKON, SFB-TR 84, CAPSyS and Phage4Cure. He is also a member of Fachkollegium Medizin of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Fellow of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).

Martin Witzenrath is associated Principal Investigator of the German Centre for Lung Research (DZL). He is a national coordinator and a Principal Investigator for several clinical trials relating to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.