Robert Graves Lecture 2013_Professor Noel G. McElvaney_Thursday 23rd May 2013

16/09/2013 in Corrigan & Graves Halls, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, 6, Kildare Street, Dublin 2

Chronic inflammatory lung disease: Understanding basic mechanisms with potential for new treatments

Professor Noel G. McElvaney, M.B., F.R.C.P.I., F.R.C.P.C., Professor of Medicine RCSI/Beaumont Hospital, Pulmonary Consultant

Summary:

“Chronic inflammatory lung diseases are characterized in the lung by higher-than-normal levels of inflammatory cells and their secretions, bacterial colonization and mucus overproduction. As the topic of inflammation in chronic lung disease is so broad I will concentrate most of this presentation on cystic fibrosis (CF) and alpha one antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), two template conditions which inform us so well about the more common conditions. I will discuss basic mechanisms of disease, current therapies and new understandings which will inform how we think of these conditions and their treatments. I will outline how the lessons learnt from AATD and CF can be transposed to the more common lung conditions. Finally I will discuss the emerging and rapidly progressing field of personalized medicine in this area”.

This is the fifty-third Graves Lecture since its beginning in 1961.

Refreshments will follow the lecture in the Graves Hall