Louise Jane Fleming | |
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Alma mater | National Heart and Lung Institute Imperial College London University of Manchester |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | National Heart and Lung Institute Imperial College London |
Thesis | The use of non-invasive markers of inflammation to guide therapy in children with severe asthma (2010) |
Louise Fleming is a British paediatrician who is Professor of Practice in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London. Her research looks to improve the lives of children with asthma through applied clinical research and innovation. She is a member of the Science Committee of the Global Initiative for Asthma.
Louise Fleming became interested in science as a child. [1] She spent a year and a half volunteering at a hospital physiotherapy department, where she realised that working with patients was something she wanted to do as a career. [1] Fleming went to medical school at the University of Manchester. [2] She specialised in respiratory paediatrics. She moved to The Gambia as a Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health – Voluntary Service Overseas fellowship. In the Gambia she studied the process of transferring people from local health centres to the main hospital, and designed low cost recommendations to improve the management of children in local health facilities.[ citation needed ] Fleming returned to the United Kingdom and started a medical doctorate at the National Heart and Lung Institute, where she studied the use of non-invasive markers of inflammation in children with severe asthma. [3] Her research was supported by the British Lung Foundation. After completing her doctorate she finished her specialist training at the Royal Brompton Hospital complemented by an Allergy Fellow post at St Mary's Hospital. [2]
Fleming works as a clinician and academic researcher at Imperial College London. Her research focuses on asthma and wheeze, with a focus on new treatment pathways and strategies to harness digital technologies to improve the management of asthma. [4] This includes studying the different types of asthma that children experience, and looking to identify the best treatments for specific types/people. [1] She looks to understand why children do not take their asthma treatments and tries to help them better control their asthma. To do this, Fleming used "Smartinhalers" to measure adherence, and demonstrated that electronic monitoring increase children's adherence to asthma treatment. [1]
Fleming is a member of the Global Initiative for Asthma Scientific Committee. She was promoted to Professor of Practise in 2024. [5]
Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. Asthma occurs when allergens, pollen, dust, or other particles, are inhaled into the lungs, causing the bronchioles to constrict and produce mucus, which then restricts oxygen flow to the alveoli. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. These may occur a few times a day or a few times per week. Depending on the person, asthma symptoms may become worse at night or with exercise.
Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare, autosomal recessive genetic ciliopathy, that causes defects in the action of cilia lining the upper and lower respiratory tract, sinuses, Eustachian tube, middle ear, fallopian tube, and flagella of sperm cells. The alternative name of "immotile ciliary syndrome" is no longer favored as the cilia do have movement, but are merely inefficient or unsynchronized. When accompanied by situs inversus the condition is known as Kartagener syndrome.
Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is the use of breathing support administered through a face mask, nasal mask, or a helmet. Air, usually with added oxygen, is given through the mask under positive pressure; generally the amount of pressure is alternated depending on whether someone is breathing in or out. It is termed "non-invasive" because it is delivered with a mask that is tightly fitted to the face or around the head, but without a need for tracheal intubation. While there are similarities with regard to the interface, NIV is not the same as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which applies a single level of positive airway pressure throughout the whole respiratory cycle; CPAP does not deliver ventilation but is occasionally used in conditions also treated with NIV.
Royal Brompton Hospital is the largest specialist heart and lung medical centre in the United Kingdom. It is managed by Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.
Asthma is a common pulmonary condition defined by chronic inflammation of respiratory tubes, tightening of respiratory smooth muscle, and episodes of bronchoconstriction. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 11 children and 1 in 12 adults have asthma in the United States of America. According to the World Health Organization, asthma affects 235 million people worldwide. There are two major categories of asthma: allergic and non-allergic. The focus of this article will be allergic asthma. In both cases, bronchoconstriction is prominent.
Dame Margaret Elizabeth Turner-Warwick was a British medical doctor and thoracic specialist. She was the first woman president of the Royal College of Physicians (1989–1992) and, later, chairman of the Royal Devon and Exeter Health Care NHS Trust (1992–1995).
Sir Peter John Barnes, FRCP, FCCP, FMedSci, FRS is a British respiratory scientist and clinician, a specialist in the mechanisms and treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He was Margaret Turner-Warwick Professor of Thoracic Medicine at the National Heart & Lung Institute, previous head of respiratory medicine at Imperial College and honorary consultant physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital London. He is one of the most highly cited scientists in the world.
Sir Stephen Townley Holgate is a British physician who specializes in immunopharmacology, respiratory medicine and allergies, and asthma and air pollution, based at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
In clinical guidelines chronic cough is defined as a cough lasting more than 8 weeks in adults and more than 4 weeks in children. there are studies suggest that a chronic cough must persist upwards of three months. The prevalence of chronic cough is about 10% although the prevalence may differ depending on definition and geographic area. Chronic cough is a common symptom in several different respiratory diseases like COPD or pulmonary fibrosis but in non-smokers with a normal chest x-ray chronic cough are often associated with asthma, rhinosinusitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease or could be idiopathic. Generally, a cough, for example after an upper respiratory tract infection, lasts around one to two weeks; however, chronic cough can persist for an extended period of time, several years in some cases. The current theory about the cause of chronic cough, independent of associated condition, is that it is caused by a hypersensitivity in the cough sensory nerves, called cough hypersensitivity syndrome. There are a number of treatments available, depending on the associated disease but the clinical management of the patients remains a challenge. Risk factors include exposure to cigarette smoke, and exposure to pollution, especially particulates.
Clare Margaret Lloyd is a Professor of Medicine and Vice Dean for Institutional Affairs at Imperial College London. She investigates allergic immunity in early life.
Jane Carolyn Davies is a British physician who is Professor of Paediatric Respirology at Imperial College School of Medicine. She is an Honorary Consultant at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust.
Rosemary Jane Boyton is a British immunologist who is Head of Lung Immunology and Adult Infectious Disease at Imperial College London. She works on the molecular immunology of infectious, allergic and autoimmune inflammation. She holds an honorary consultant position at the Royal Brompton Hospital, where she specialises in lung infection.
Francesco Blasi is an Italian Medical scientist and professor. His domain of research is respiratory medicine. He has been the president of European Respiratory Society (ERS) during 2012–13. He has served as the president of Italian Respiratory Society during 2015–17. He is presently serving as one of the board of directors of University of Milan and is the professor of respiratory medicine in department pathophysiology and transplantation in University of Milan.
Sejal Saglani is a British medical researcher who is Professor and Head of the Inflammation, Repair and Development Section at the National Heart and Lung Institute. Her research considers wheeze and severe childhood asthma. She serves as an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Type 2 inflammation is a pattern of immune response. Its physiological function is to defend the body against helminths, but a dysregulation of the type 2 inflammatory response has been implicated in the pathophysiology of several diseases.
Peter Burney is a British epidemiologist. He is emeritus professor of respiratory epidemiology and public health at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences since 2001.
Monica Kraft is an American scientist, medical professor and researcher. She is the System Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Health System. She is also the Murray M. Rosenberg Professor of Medicine.
Airway remodelling, or airway remodeling, is a potential complication of certain endotypes (subtypes) of asthma. It is the sum of changes that occur in the airways of some asthmatic people compared to people without the disease.
Asthma phenotyping and endotyping is a novel approach to asthma classification inspired by precision medicine. It seeks to separate the clinical presentations or clusters of signs and symptoms of asthma, known as asthma phenotypes, from their underlying etiologies or causes, known as asthma endotypes.
Helen Reddel or Helen Kathryn Reddel is a respiratory physician, a professor at Macquarie University, and adjunct professor at the University of Sydney, Chair of the Global Initiative for Asthma, who was awarded an Order of Australia in 2024, for services to respiratory medicine.