ERS Assembly Lifetime Achievement Awards 2016

Presented to: Professor Wilfried De Backer

Professor De Backer has been involved in Sleep Respiratory Medicine for many years and was Head of Assembly 4 in the years 2011-2014. He has been deeply involved in the HERMES project for Sleep, and is the Chair of the HERMES Task Force for Sleep and breathing.

His major research interest in the sleep field has been the pathophysiology of upper airways in OSA, and in recent years he participated in the study on hypoglossal stimulation as a treatment for OSA.

His major research interest in the last 10 years has been functional imaging, not only to study upper airways in adult and paediatric OSA, but also to get further insight into the pathophysiology of pulmonary disease.

Professor De Backer is a kind and open-minded physician, with the ability to foresee research and new applications of technology, both in pulmonary medicine and medical education.

Presented to: Dr Paul Van Schil

Paul Van Schil was born on July 7, 1957 in Antwerp, Belgium. He graduated from medical school with great honour in 1982 at the University of Antwerp. After completing his training in general surgery he became a fellow in the department of cardiothoracic surgery at the Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. His doctoral thesis was entitled "Bronchial sleeve resection for lung cancer: long-term results".

In 1990 he became a staff member at the department of surgery of the Antwerp University Hospital in Belgium. Currently, he is professor in thoracic and vascular surgery at the Faculty of Medicine and chair of the department of thoracic and vascular surgery of the University Hospital of Antwerp.

Since October 2013 he is president of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery.

His main interests are thoracic and vascular surgery with a special emphasis on lung cancer staging and therapy, lung metastases and mesothelioma.

Presented to: Dr Felip Burgos

Felip Burgos is a registered nurse and respiratory scientist in the Respiratory Diagnostic Centre at the University of Barcelona, Spain. He received a Master's degree in Respiratory Medicine from the University of Barcelona and University of Pompeu Fabra, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Barcelona. He was also Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Barcelona.

Over the last 30 years, he has worked in the Lung Function Laboratory focussing on several topics, specifically related to reference values and standardisation of lung function methodology. He is co-organiser of an annual Spanish postgraduate course on pulmonary function testing, sponsored by the Department of Medicine, University of Barcelona.

Dr Burgos was a Research Fellow at Harbor-UCLA in Torrance, USA, has been involved in the Spanish Project for Standardization of Lung Function Tests, is also a regular member of the ERS-ATS Pulmonary Function Standards Committee, and was also a former Chairman of the ERS Respiratory measurements and technology scientific group, a sub group of the ERS Allied Respiratory Professionals Assembly.