Cournand Lecture 2015

Silke Ryan

The Society has selected Dr Silke Ryan for the Cournand Lecture because of the impact of her research over the last decade. Her research has resulted in a better understanding of the mechanisms associated with the development of various cardiovascular complications in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) such as high blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke.

Dr Ryan's widely-cited research has been published in high-impact journals such as Circulation, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Thorax.
Her interests include the broad subject of cardiovascular disease mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnoea and in particular, inflammatory responses to intermittent hypoxia. Her research is currently funded by the Health Research Board through a translational fellowship grant.

In 2012, she received the James B. Skatrud New Investigator Award at the American Thoracic Society Annual Conference, an award which recognises outstanding career accomplishments to date and future promise of a new investigator working in the broad area of respiratory neurobiology and sleep.

Professor Stephen Holgate, Chair of the ERS Scientific Council, said: "Over the past ten years Dr Ryan's research has bettered our understanding of the interplay between obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiovascular complications. Her lecture on inflammatory activation is a great opportunity to hear from a fantastic investigator with an exciting career ahead."

The Cournand Lecture is reserved a young investigator. It commemorates a distinguished French scientist, André Cournand, who worked for much of his life in the United States and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1956 for his pioneering work on the in-vivo investigation of circulation.

Dr Ryan will deliver the Cournand lecture on 'Inflammatory pathway activation by intermittent hypoxia in obstructive sleep apnoea' at the 'Obstructive sleep apnoea in adults and children session', on Sunday 27 September at 10:45 in Room 7.2

She will also have a poster at the 'To treat or not to treat, and how? Sleep disordered breathing' thematic poster session.