Prof Christine Jenkins AM Head of Airways

• Role
• Highlights 2008
• Year ahead
• Research Projects and collaborations
• Staff

Role

The Group over-arches all the research groups working in airways disease, represented by the research leaders of each group: Allergen Research Group, Airway Physiology and Imaging Research Group, Clinical Management Research Group, Clinical Research Operations Group, Epidemiology Research Group, and the Cell Biology and Pharmacology Research Group.

Highlights 2008

The Airways group, being comprised of other research groups, does not have an independent research program. It exists to help coordinate and discuss issues of common interest and concern to the Research Groups in Airways Disease, and to plan joint activities.

While previously, Research Leaders may have discussed their current research activity and future plans, as each individual group has grown, the main function of the Airways Group meetings has changed to become more administrative. It discusses issues of common interest such as the setting up of the consultative service, support requirements, and research infrastructure and resources such as IT and biostatistics.

Think Tank: The Airways group is responsible for planning the Airways Group Think Tank each year, and for any programme or initiatives that are attached to this, particularly involving visiting speakers and additional meetings. It is also responsible for facilitating invitations to visiting researchers who may come to the Woolcock through grants such as the GSK Fellowship. In previous years we have held occasional PhD presentation days to these visitors which have been very productive interactions. This year we decided to hold a series of meetings where the research groups will feature some of their students or present an overview of work done in their group, to commence in 2009.

Year ahead

The Airways group will continue to meet to consider matters of common concern. However, it is likely that as each group grows and has its own independent functions the group may meet on a more ad hoc basis, when need arises. Specifically, the multi-group meetings where PhD students, researchers and junior fellows present work in progress may take the place of these meetings to some extent. It is possible we will form a journal club to provide a forum for Airways Group researchers to discuss new papers and their relevance and applicability to our work.

We will continue to plan the Think Tank which is a highlight of the year and which enables us to gain a more comprehensive view of research activities in each of the groups. It is evolving into a great forum for showcasing our younger researchers and their work, the breadth of science in the Woolcock, and the opportunity to share research ideas.