International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Prof. Dr. Richard Russell

Clinical Reader, King's Centre for Lung Health, Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

Prof Dr Richard E.K. Russell trained at Guy’s Hospital, he further specialized in respiratory medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He completed a PhD as a BLF Research Fellow under the supervision of Professor Peter Barnes. Prof Dr Russell is a Consultant at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and is the Clinical Director of the West Hampshire Integrated Respiratory Service, as well as a Senior Clinical Researcher at the Nuffield Dept. of Medicine, University of Oxford.

Prof Dr Russell has interests in obstructive lung disease, particularly pathophysiology of COPD and how patients should be cared for across the primary/secondary care interface. He has been a member of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Executive, Scientific Committee and the Communications Committee, is active in the British Lung Foundation. As founding editor of the International Journal of COPD, Prof Dr Russell is keen to increase the awareness of COPD and provide a platform for advances in the understanding of COPD pathology.

As well as being on the editorial board for Geriatric Medicine, Prescriber and The Lung Perspectives, he is a peer reviewer for Thorax, AJRCCM, AJRCMB, APS Lung, and Journal of COPD. Prof Dr Russell also contributes regularly to the BBC and other mainstream media.

 

Dr Vanesa Bellou

Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Respiratory Medicine, General Hospital of Arta, Arta, Greece

Dr. Vanesa Bellou is a Consultant Respiratory Physician at the General Hospital of Arta in Greece, with dual appointments in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Respiratory Medicine. She completed her medical degree at the University of Ioannina Medical School, where she graduated summa cum laude at the top of her class. Dr. Bellou subsequently earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the same institution with her thesis "Deciphering the etiologic and prognostic map of respiratory diseases," which was awarded the highest distinction (summa cum laude). Her doctoral studies were funded by a prestigious scholarship from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation, having also been offered the distinguished Onassis Foundation Scholarship.

Dr. Bellou's research focuses on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prognostic modeling in respiratory diseases, and the environmental epidemiology of pulmonary conditions. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including the European Respiratory Journal, BMJ, Chest, and The Lancet Neurology. Her systematic reviews and meta-analyses on environmental risk factors for respiratory and neurological diseases are highly cited in the field.

In addition to her clinical and research work, Dr. Bellou has served as an Adjunct Lecturer and Teaching Assistant at the University of Ioannina Medical School, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in respiratory medicine, biostatistics, and epidemiology. She is actively involved in multiple international research collaborations, including participation in guideline development groups such as PRISMA-PF and TRIPOD-AI. In 2024, Dr. Bellou was selected for the prestigious ERN-Lung Online Academy fellowship, which included a practical training at St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, a center of excellence for rare respiratory diseases and cystic fibrosis.

Dr. Bellou serves as an editor for several scientific journals, including the European Respiratory Journal, where she was selected for the competitive Early Career Editorial Team Mentoring Program. She is a member of the Hellenic Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society, and regularly participates as a principal or sub-investigator in clinical trials focused on COPD management. In 2024, she received board certification in Smoking Cessation from the Hellenic Thoracic Society after successfully completing national examinations, further enhancing her expertise in addressing a key factor in COPD management.

Her expertise in advanced epidemiological methods, combined with her clinical experience in respiratory medicine, provides a unique perspective on the evolving landscape of COPD research and treatment.

Dr Venkatkiran Kanchustambham

School of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of North Dakota, ND, USA

Dr Venkatkiran Kanchustambham, MD, FCCP, is an Interventional Pulmonologist and Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences, practicing at Sanford Health in Fargo, North Dakota. He is the only fellowship-trained interventional pulmonologist in North Dakota, performing approximately 350–400 advanced bronchoscopy procedures annually, including robotic-assisted bronchoscopy, endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), and bronchoscopic lung volume reduction.

Dr Kanchustambham directs the Interstitial Lung Disease Program, Cystic Fibrosis Clinic, and Long-COVID Clinic at Sanford Health, and holds board certifications in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, and Critical Care Medicine (ABIM), with additional certification through the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (CAQ).

Dr Kanchustambham has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications and serves on the editorial boards of multiple international journals. His clinical and research interests include advanced diagnostic bronchoscopy, COPD phenotyping, obstructive lung disease management in rural and underserved populations, and the integration of artificial intelligence in pulmonary diagnostics.

Dr Jill Ohar

Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Immunology, School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

Dr Jill Ohar earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania and her medical degree from Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Her postdoctoral training included an internship in obstetrics/ gynecology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and a residency in medicine at Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, where she completed a subsequent clinical fellowship in pulmonary diseases and critical care. She has served on the faculty at Saint Louis University and is currently a tenured professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Dr Ohar is a clinical investigator and the author or coauthor of numerous journal articles, reviews, abstracts, and book chapters. Her current research interests focus on occupational pulmonary disease and the diagnosis/delivery of care to COPD patients. She is a member and a past officer of the American College of Physicians, the American Thoracic Society, and a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Prof. Dr. Zijing Zhou

Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China

Dr Zijing Zhou, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, Associate Researcher in the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China. She received her PhD in Internal Medicine in 2020 from Central South University.

Dr Zhou’s research focuses on endothelial dysfunction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as mechanisms of lung injury and fibrosis. She has also received research training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she studied mechanotransduction in lung fibrosis.

Dr Zhou has served in multiple editorial roles, including Associate Editor of the European Journal of Medical Research, Academic Editor for the Canadian Respiratory Journal and PeerJ, and Editorial Board Member of BMC Pulmonary Medicine. She has published extensively in the fields of COPD, respiratory medicine, and translational pulmonary research.