resentation of the UB Chair on Respiratory Health with support from AstraZeneca, Chiesi and GSK

IParticipants in this event are the vice-rector for Entrepreneurship, Transfer and Innovation, Albert Cirera; the dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antoni Trilla; the director of the chair, Àlvar Agustí, and the national directors of the three pharmaceutical companies that take part in the chair.

Respiratory diseases are very common among population. A shocking example is the current COVID-19 pandemic, a primarily respiratory disease. In addition, recent research studies led by UB researchers have shown that a person's circumstances at the beginning of his or her life — during gestation in the mother's womb, in childhood and adolescence — influence the development of the lungs, with a very significant impact on chronic respiratory diseases of the adult, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma and probably COVID-19 as well. Therefore, taking care of respiratory health from the beginning of life is of great social and health importance to promote a healthy aging.

The main objective of this new UB Chair on Respiratory Health is to organize training activities regarding the relevance of respiratory health and the prevention and treatment of the most common respiratory diseases. The activities will be aimed at both health professionals (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, etc.) and patients or the general audience. In this sense, there is a special interest in being able to evaluate the experience of patients in their transit through the health system (Barcelona Medical Association Janus group) and the added value of health actions (value based health care) in the field of respiratory diseases. In order to achieve these goals, the Chair will organize courses, meetings and debate forums (face-to-face and online) and will have an international advisory committee (think tank) to help in the design and setting of priorities.

Currently, Àlvar Agustí also directs the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. He is also a member of the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) and the Respiratory Diseases Networking Biomedical Research Centre, and a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia.

You can access through this link (meeting IF: 894 5390 6057; access code: 854321).