Around 1 in 13 Australians over 40 are estimated to have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). However, around 50% of people with symptoms are undiagnosed, denying them the opportunity to take the crucial early steps needed to stem progression and improve outcomes.
Ahead of World COPD Day 2023, and in alignment with this year’s theme of Breathing is Life – Act Earlier, this virtual learning event will highlight the need for action in early and accurate COPD risk identification and diagnosis. Hear from our expert panel on the importance of early lung health, early diagnosis and early interventions, including:
- The guideline-recommended approach to COPD detection and diagnosis
- Timely and appropriate risk-modification interventions
- Predicting Your Patient’s Risk of Airway Obstruction (PRECURSOR): A future model for COPD risk predication
- Practical advice for reactivating spirometry in primary care
This event is also an opportunity to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the COPD-X Plan: Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for the management of COPD. Lung Foundation Australia and Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand are proud to mark this momentous achievement: 20 years of practical, evidence-based recommendations for healthcare professionals on the diagnosis and management of patients with COPD.
Speakers
Facilitated by Dr Kerry Hancock
General Practitioner
Dr Kerry Hancock is a General Practitioner who has had over 38 years experience in clinical practice with most of that time as a principal of a self established practice in the outer southern suburbs of Adelaide. For at least the last two and a half decades she has had a special interest in general practice based respiratory medicine and in addition to clinical care she has been actively involved in advocacy, guideline development and promulgation and research activities.
She remains passionate for patients with respiratory and related conditions to access excellent clinical care by all primary care practitioners and to ensure that patients are diagnosed in a timely manner and provided with excellent care to achieve best outcomes for health and wellbeing.
Kerry is currently Chair RACGP Respiratory Medicine Specific Interests Group; Chair Lung Foundation Australia (LFA) Primary Care Clinical Council; member LFA Clinical and Research Council and COPD Clinical Advisory Committee; Honorary Fellow Allergy and Lung Health Unit Melbourne School of Population and Global Health The University of Melbourne; previous Principal Medical Officer and Board member / Director Asthma Foundation SA and previous Chair GP Asthma Group National Asthma Council.
She has been recognised for her contribution to general practice in being awarded Honorary Fellowship of the RACGP in 2018 and Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in January 2022.
Professor Ian Yang
Thoracic Physician
Brisbane-based thoracic physician, researcher and educator Ian Yang is the Director of Thoracic Medicine at The Prince Charles Hospital, and Professor in the Medical School, The University of Queensland. He serves as one of two co-chairs of Lung Foundation Australia’s COPD-X Guideline Committee, and is member of the editorial boards of Respirology, Cochrane Library, UpToDate, Annals of the American Thoracic Society, Journal of Thoracic Disease and Respiratory Medicine Today. After completing a PhD at UQ and a post-doctoral fellowship in Southampton, UK, Professor Yang’s clinical practice is in the field of thoracic medicine, and his translational research team studies gene-environmental interaction in COPD, asthma, lung cancer and air pollution, to enhance approaches to improving lung health in our community.
Ms Mary Roberts
Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant
Mary Roberts is a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant working at Westmead Hospital. She has 30 years of experience working in Respiratory Medicine. She is an active member of the Lung Foundation of Australia and Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand where she is currently on the NSW Executive. Mary is a keen clinician researcher and has presented her work both nationally and internationally. Her research interests include COPD, Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Breathlessness and ILD.
Dr Jennifer Perret
Physician-trained Respiratory and Sleep Epidemiologist
Dr Jennifer Perret, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, is a physician-trained Respiratory and Sleep epidemiologist who has undertaken her NHMRC and Faculty-funded fellowships under the supervision of Prof Shyamali Dharmage at the Allergy and Lung Health Unit (ALHU), Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Melbourne. She has built on and extended her doctoral work on the host and environmental determinants of reduced lung function to lead a program of work that predicts lung health risks in middle-aged adults. Together with Dr Kerry Hancock, she is consulting GPs and practice staff about using PRECURSOR, a validated risk-calculator, to triage primary care patients aged 40-49 for spirometry testing and enable the early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Her research on lung health across the life course also involves collaborations with investigators from Imperial College London and Harvard University U.S.
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