Exercise for Exacerbations and Rhinovirus Treatment

What inspired or motivated you to undertake this research project?

Avoiding exacerbations (flare-ups) of symptoms and hospitalisations are outcomes that matter the most to people living with COPD. Our research has shown that exercise programs can reduce the number of flare-ups in people with COPD, but we don’t yet know why this happens. I am motivated to understand this better so that we can ensure more people with COPD avoid flare-ups. 

How do you envision this will impact the health and wellbeing of patients? 

Flare-ups in COPD often occur following infection with a respiratory virus, including the common cold virus (rhinovirus). People with COPD are susceptible to flare-ups due to imbalanced responses to infections, and subsequent lung inflammation.

I hope the results will tell us how exercise can boost anti-viral immunity and reduce lung inflammation. These results will mean we can target exercise programs to people with COPD who have frequent viral infections and excessive lung inflammation to help prevent them from having flare-ups, and ultimately improve their quality of life.

How important was funding from Lung Foundation Australia for your work?

The funding allows early career researchers like me to have time focused on doing this important work. I cannot proceed with this research without this funding, it is so essential.

Several our research awards are funded through generous donations from patients and families impacted by lung disease. If you had the opportunity, what would you say to someone considering donating to lung focused research? 

Thank you for considering donating. There is a huge discrepancy between the impact of lung diseases on our communities and research investment. Lung Foundation Australia are doing tremendous work to help address this. You can help them, and researchers do more, whatever the donation. 

What change do you hope to see in the lung disease and lung cancer space by 2030? 

I want to see more research informed by people living with lung disease and lung cancer. I want to see more researchers working alongside people living with lung disease and lung cancer as well as their families. Together, we can deliver research that provides the best outcomes for all.