Summary
Professor Maria Belvisi is head of the Respiratory Pharmacology group at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London.
Professor Belvisi is an internationally recognized expert in the respiratory field with both academic and industrial experience. Her research is focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of asthma, COPD and chronic cough, and developing therapies for these diseases. Her research is translational and takes data generated in vitro through to in vivo models and clinical studies with collaborators. Together with Peter Barnes at NHLI she was involved in generating key data sets during the developement of tiotropium bromide (Spiriva) a long acting muscarinig receptor antagonist used as a bronchodilator for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Professor Belvisi also worked for a period at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer/Aventis Pharma, leading a team in the company’s Respiratory Research Therapeutic area. During this time she was involved in the the development of Ciclesonide (Alvesco) an inhaled corticosteroid for asthma with an improved therapeutic ratio.
Professor Belvisi has an extensive publication record in peer review journals and serves on the editorial board of several publications. She has also received several prizes and awards, including the Women in Inflammation Science (2009), awarded by the World Inflammation Society, and the AstraZeneca Women in Pharmacology Prize (2011). She was elected fellow of the British Pharmacological Society in 2005.
In 2010 she formed, together with Dr Mark Birrell, IR Pharma a preclinical respiratory drug discovery organisation which is part of the Imperial Innovations portfolio of companies.
Publications
Journals
van Laar JM, Lei A, Safy-Khan M, et al., 2023, AZD9567 versus prednisolone in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: A phase IIa, randomized, double-blind, efficacy, and safety study., Clin Transl Sci, Vol:16, Pages:2494-2506
Saunders P, Wu Z, Fahy WA, et al., 2023, The burden and impact of cough in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: an analysis of the prospective observational PROFILE study, Annals of the American Thoracic Society, Vol:20, ISSN:1546-3222, Pages:1267-1273
Hristova VA, Watson A, Chaerkady R, et al., 2023, Multiomics links global surfactant dysregulation with airflow obstruction and emphysema in COPD, Erj Open Research, Vol:9
Yoon M, Ryu MH, Huff RD, et al., 2022, Effect of traffic-related air pollution on cough in adults with polymorphisms in several cough-related genes, Respiratory Research, Vol:23
Conference
Rojnik ZJ, De Palo G, Baturcam E, et al., 2022, Airway Epithelial JAK-STAT Gene Signatures Identify a Cluster of COPD Patients with Increased Blood Neutrophils, International Conference of the American-Thoracic-Society, AMER THORACIC SOC, ISSN:1073-449X