COPD Working Party

Prof Natasha Smallwood is the Professor and Director of Respiratory Medicine at the Alfred Hospital (Melbourne) and School of Translational Medicine at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). In addition to her respiratory qualifications, she holds postgraduate qualifications in Medical Leadership, Epidemiology and Palliative Care.

Prof Smallwood has authored over 150 publications and been awarded approximately $12 million as major research grants. She has clinical and research interests in severe lung disease, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease.

Prof Smallwood is the President for the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, a past Board Director for the Victorian Doctors Health Program (Australia), and holds multiple leadership roles. She is a taskforce member for various national and international respiratory guidelines. She recently worked with the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare to develop the first ever national clinical care standard in respiratory medicine for people with COPD.

Dr James Fingleton is Clinical Director Sub-speciality Medicine and a respiratory physician at Wellington Hospital. He has a sub-specialist interest in asthma and COPD and was lead for the previous NZ National Asthma audit. He is a Fellow of the Thoracic Society of Australia New Zealand (TSANZ) NZ branch and Co-Chief Investigator of the Australia New Zealand Respiratory Audit Program (ANZRAP).

James also teaches as a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Otago, Wellington and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board and Asthma and COPD guidelines committees of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand.

Dr Jennifer (Jenny) Alison is Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, previously Professor of Respiratory Physiotherapy, University of Sydney and Professor of Allied Health, Sydney Local Health District. She has supervised 28 PhD students to completion and was awarded an Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.

Jenny is a Fellow of the European Respiratory Society and Fellow of Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), was awarded the TSANZ 50 th Anniversary Medal for Education and Training and an Inaugural Lung Health Legends Award, Lung Foundation Australia. Jenny has extensive experience in leading large multi-site funded clinical trials and has over 230 publications, h-index 41. Jenny has a strong commitment to improving outcomes for people with chronic lung disease.

Ms Catherine Buchan is a Respiratory and Sleep Nurse Consultant at Alfred Health and clinician researcher and PhD candidate in respiratory research@Alfred, School of Translational Medicine, Monash University. She holds postgraduate qualifications in critical care and a Master of Nursing Science. Catherine has clinical and research interests in people with advanced lung disease, particularly acute and chronic respiratory failure, utilising non-invasive respiratory supports and managing challenging symptoms such as severe breathlessness, to improve outcomes. Catherine is a Fellow of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, a current board director, chair of the clinical care and resources subcommittee and President-elect of the Victorian branch.

Dr. Sanjay Ramakrishnan is a respiratory physician and clinician scientist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and the University of Western Australia. He specializes in asthma and COPD exacerbations, focusing on improving biological assessment and biomarker-guided treatments for these critical conditions. After training in Australia, he earned his PhD at Oxford University. He led multiple groundbreaking clinical trials in COPD during his time in Oxford. His research has led to national and international guideline change.

Sanjay is the current deputy convenor of COPD TSANZ Special Interest Group. He also has extensive editorial experience, acting as a COPD associate editor for Respirology, member of the COPD editorial board at Chest, and a junior editor for the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Now based in Perth, he leads his research group, aiming to ensure biomarker-guided treatment for every patient, in every clinical setting.

A/Prof Stephen Milne is an Associate Professor at The University of Sydney, a specialist Respiratory and Sleep Physician at Westmead Hospital, and is one of Australia’s emerging leaders in respiratory health. After completing clinical and PhD research training in Sydney, Stephen undertook a four-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation in Vancouver, Canada. He now leads the Airways Diseases Biology Group in the Ludwig Engel Centre for Respiratory Research, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Sydney. Stephen’s research combines clinical, physiological, and molecular profiling of patients with airways diseases, with the aim of developing personalised treatments for people living with these conditions. He is a highly collaborative researcher and mentor to junior medical and research trainees.

A/Prof Eli Dabscheck is a respiratory and sleep physician at Alfred Health. He is the co-chair of the Australian COPD guidelines (COPD-X). A/Prof Dabscheck contributed as an invited expert on the COPD care standards. A/Prof Dabscheck co-wrote the COPD section for the Therapeutic Guidelines.

Dr Stuart Jones is a Respiratory and Sleep Physician working for Te Whatu Ora at Counties-Manukau where he started in 2008 and is the current clinical head of the department. He has been an active member of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, having served on the local NZ executive from 2010-2020 and previously holding the position of Branch President between 2017-2019. He was a board member of the society from 2017-2023. Stuart served as Medical Director for the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ between 2017 and 2021 and still sits as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the Foundation. He has been a member of the writing committee for the New Zealand Asthma and the New Zealand COPD Guidelines and was on the organising group of the first National Asthma Audit. Stuart is passionate about New Zealander’s respiratory health and is committed to seeing the burden of respiratory disease in our community drop.

Dr Jack Dummer is a respiratory physician working at Dunedin Hospital in New Zealand where he has led projects to improve care for patients with COPD, including better links between primary and secondary care. He has published research in areas including the delivery of healthcare for people with COPD, pharmacoepidemiology and inhaler safety, airway inflammation and breath analysis, and inhaled drug development. He also chaired the working group that developed the TSANZ position statement on the diagnosis and treatment of lung disease associated with alpha one-antitrypsin deficiency.

Dr Annie Walker is a specialist respiratory and sleep physician at the Central Adelaide Local Health Network in South Australia, having completed her specialist training at The Royal Adelaide and The Alfred Hospitals. She is currently completing a PhD through Monash University, examining new models of integrated palliative care and breathlessness management for people with lung cancer.

She has a post-graduate degree in medical education and is a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide. She serves on the executive committee for the South Australia and Northern Territory Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), as well as the National TSANZ Lung Cancer Working Party. Her clinical and research interests include breathlessness, non-invasive ventilation and integration of palliative care in lung cancer and advanced respiratory diseases.