Severe Asthma

This is primarily a research fellowship for studying mechanisms of severe asthma with out-patient clinical training (1-2 half-day clinics a week) in the management of airway diseases such as severe asthma, COPD and chronic cough using inflammometry. This involves quantitative sputum cytometry, exhaled breath measurements and metabolomics and measurements of airway hyperresponsiveness. In addition, there is an opportunity to participate in the evaluation of patients with eosinophilic disorders in two unique multidisciplinary clinics with haem-oncology (for patients with HES) and rheumatology (for patients with EGPA). The training will provide opportunities for training in research methodology, basic bench research and clinical trials in severe asthma and COPD, use of biologics, bronchial thermoplasty, advanced imaging techniques such as noble gas MRI and quantitative CT, and interaction with collaborators in molecular microbiology and virology, immunology, allergy, otolaryngology, radiology, haem-oncology and rheumatology. There would not be any in-patient or on-call responsibilities.