Through local, national and international collaborations, the team will accelerate innovation in child respiratory health and translation of these discoveries into clinical practice and policy.
A major area of focus for the team is Cystic Fibrosis (CF), the most common chronic, life-shortening genetic condition affecting Australians. Our team leads the Australian Respiratory Early Surveillance Team for Cystic Fibrosis (AREST CF), a collaborative group of over 30 doctors, allied health professionals and researchers dedicated to improving the respiratory health of children with CF by translating scientific research into tangible clinical outcomes. Research by our group and others has shown that infants and children with CF exhibit reduced lung function and evidence of inflammation and infection at a very early age. This highlights the need for new treatments that can be given from time of diagnosis to prevent and/or reverse the damage.
Learn more about the AREST team here.
Team leader
MB BChir PhD MRCP FRACP
Head, P4 Respiratory Health for Kids
Team members (23)
BSc MSc PhD Cantab
PhD, MS, BS
Eng, MSc, PhD
Laura Akesson
Honorary Research Associate
Georgia Banton
Clinical Trial Coordinator
Josh Beeson
Project Officer
Oded Breuer
Honorary Research Fellow
Daan Caudri
Honorary Research Fellow
Barry Clements
Honorary Research Fellow
Eleanor Ferguson
Clinical Trials Coordinator
Alexia Foti
Project Manager, Synergy
Sam Eastcott
Clinical Trial Manager
Alphons Gwatimba
Research Associate in AI
Alya Ishak
Collaborator
Yuliya Karpievitch
AI and Data Analyst, Biostatistician
Rebecca Langford
Program Manager, Cystic Fibrosis Research
Kak-Ming Ling
Research Assistant
Jaqueline Macpherson
Research Coordinator
Fergal O'Gara
Honorary Distinguished Research Associate
Liz Starcevich
Research Study Coordinator
José Caparrós Martín
Research Fellow
Clare Berry
Program Manager, Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre
David Hancock
Honorary Research Fellow Team Member
P4 Respiratory Health for Kids projects
Featured projects
SYNERGY CF: Getting the best start to life - preventing early cystic fibrosis lung disease by solving the host-inflammation infection conundrum
SHIP CT: A Phase 3 randomised, double-blind, controlled trial of inhaled 7% hypertonic saline versus 0.9% isotonic saline for 48 weeks in patients with Cystic Fibrosis at 3-6 years of age in parallel with the North American SHIP clinical trial.
SHIP-CT, led by Professor Stephen Stick, Director of the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre at The Kids, is a unique study in preschool-aged children (from 3-6 years of age) with CF using images of the lung from chest CT scans as the main outcome measure.
Other projects
DEFEND CF: Biomarkers to define the treatment end-point for pulmonary exacerbations in cystic fibrosis AREST CF Early Surveillance Program BANK CF: The Respiratory Centre BIOBANK COMBAT CF: A phase 3 multi-centre randomized placebo-controlled study of azithromycin in the primary prevention of radiologically-defined bronchiectasis in infants with cystic fibrosis. PREDICT CF: Assessing the role of lung clearance index in predicting disease progression in children with cystic fibrosis Cystic Fibrosis Early Surveillance Program