Prof. Jadwiga Wedzicha

Imperial College London, UK

Wisia Wedzicha is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, UK. She qualified from Somerville College, Oxford University and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, University of London. She was elected as Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2013 and is an NIHR Senior Investigator. She was awarded the Helmholtz International Fellow award in 2014.

Professor Wedzicha has a major interest in the causes, mechanisms, impact and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations, and in the role of bacterial and viral infection in COPD exacerbations. She directs an active research group specialising in COPD exacerbations, and has published extensively on this topic.

Professor Wedzicha chaired the English Department of the Health Home Oxygen Clinical User Group, and was a member of the Guideline Development Group for the revision of the National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence COPD Guidelines. She was a member of the Programme Board for the COPD National Clinical Strategy.

Professor Wedzicha was Editor-in-Chief of Thorax from 2002 to 2010, and is a member of the BioMed Central advisory board. She is currently Editor in Chief for the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. In addition, she is on the editorial boards of a number of international journals. She was the Lancet Ombudsman till 2014, Publications Director for the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and has also previously been ERS Guidelines Director.