Who we are

La Trobe University, Australia

Anne Holland leads a research program that aims to optimise health and wellbeing for people with cardiorespiratory disease, based at La Trobe University’s Alfred Health Clinical School in Melbourne, Australia. Anne’s research is investigating new models for pulmonary rehabilitation, including low cost home-based models and telerehabilitation, as well as defining the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation in new populations such as interstitial lung disease. She has over 160 publications in peer reviewed journals related to chronic respiratory disease and rehabilitation. Her publications have been cited over 3500 times, including in 11 national and international treatment guidelines. Anne has received over $AUD 9 million in competitive research funding since 2003.

Research interests include:

• Chronic disease
• Chronic respiratory disease
• Rehabilitation
• Pulmonary rehabilitation

Contact Details

Email: a.holland@latrobe.edu.au

University College London (UCL), UK

Eleanor Main has been involved with clinical physiotherapy, teaching and research at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Institute of Child Health in University College London for almost 24 years. She qualified as a physiotherapist at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (1988) and worked as a paediatric physiotherapist at both the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town and then Great Ormond Street Hospital.  She completed a BA (English & Psychology) at UNISA in South Africa (1991), an MSc in research methods from Kings College, London (1995) and a PhD in paediatric respiratory physiology from University College London (2001).

She was appointed as Lecturer in children's physiotherapy research at UCL in 2001, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007 and Professor of Physiotherapy in 2015. She has been programme director for the UCL postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and MSc in Physiotherapy at UCL since 2005, and has successfully supervised 5 PhD students and over 80 MSc project dissertations to date. In 2011 she was awarded a Fellowship of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in London for ‘significant contribution to education, teaching and learning in the field of cardiorespiratory and paediatric physiotherapy’. Eleanor’s primary research interests relate to outcome measurement and clinical efficacy studies in physiotherapy. This research, resulting in more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, and attracting over £2,700,000 in project grant funding so far, has resulted in substantive advances in the understanding of assessment and treatment of children who require physiotherapy.

Contact Details

Email: e.main@ucl.ac.uk

Hospital for Sick Children, Canada

Dr Jane Schneiderman works at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, as a Registered Kinesiologist in the Division of Respiratory Medicine, and in the Exercise Medicine Lab in Physiology and Experimental Medicine in the Research Institute. In clinical practice Jane liaises with physicians and allied health care providers using exercise testing to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of patients from a variety of clinical backgrounds, while educating and promoting Exercise as Medicine.

Jane’s research has focused on the relationship between physical activity and lung health in individuals with cystic fibrosis, while collaborating on projects using exercise science to elucidate the pathophysiology of disease across a broad spectrum of chronic diseases in children. Jane completed her PhD at the University of Toronto in Exercise Science with a focus on cardiorespiratory exercise physiology, and is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the U of T.

Contact Details

Email: Jane.schneiderman@sickkids.ca

Swansea University, UK

Melitta’s research focuses on investigating the influence of modulatory factors on the cardiorespiratory system and its relationship with health and performance. These factors range from investigating the effect of training in children and the presence of a maturational threshold to understanding functional limitations in pathological conditions and assessing interventions to alleviate such limitations. The design and implementation of such interventions includes the investigation of inspiratory muscle training and high-intensity interval training methods delivered in traditional methods or utilising recent technological advances to overcome physical barriers such as geographical location or cross-contamination issues.

Whilst she is involved in an increasingly diverse range of projects, my central interest remains understanding the mechanistic basis for the adaptations that occur in response to regular physical activity in both healthy populations and those suffering from a variety of pathologies such as Cystic Fibrosis, Asthma, Emphysema and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, an area of research which, she believes, necessitates an inter-disciplinary approach. This interest has led to the investigation of effective strategies in enhance physical activity levels and thus functional capacity through interventions such as inspiratory muscle training and high-intensity interval training.

Contact Details

Email: m.mcnarry@swansea.ac.uk

Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK

Dr Mandy Bryon is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Head of Psychological Services at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), London, UK. Mandy has worked as the psychologist for the Cystic Fibrosis team since February 1990.

Mandy co-founded the UK Psychosocial Professionals in Cystic Fibrosis Group and is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society. Mandy is currently the psychosocial representative on the Medical Advisory Committee of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and is the Psychologist member of the committee developing the NICE Guidelines for Cystic Fibrosis.

Mandy's research interests include the psychological impact of cystic fibrosis, particularly sibling relationships, adherence to treatment, quality of life, eating disorders and body image disturbance.

Mandy has been involved in the UK validation of the CFQ-UK, a quality-of-life measure for children and adults with cystic fibrosis. She has developed a new measure of disturbed eating attitudes and behaviours in people with cystic fibrosis (the CFEAB).

Contact Details

Email: Mandy.Byron@gosh.nhs.uk

University of Exeter

Chloe completed her undergraduate BSc in Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Exeter, taking modules in Paediatrics and Clinical Exercise Prescription. She joined the Children's Health & Exercise Research Centre team at the University of Exeter following attaining the Cystic Fibrosis Trust Studentship for 2017.

Chloe's studentship will focus on the use of CPET (cardiopulmonary exercise test) data to determine sex differences in exercise capacities of children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis. She hopes to carry on this work into an MSc by research.

Contact Details

Email: clb242@exeter.ac.uk

La Trobe Unviversity, Australia

Narelle is a Research Fellow in the Pulmonary Rehabilitation research group at the La Trobe University Clinical School based at Alfred Health in Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on improving health and clinical outcomes for people with chronic respiratory disease through participation in physical activity and exercise rehabilitation.

Narelle is an experienced physiotherapist who has worked extensively in both paediatric and adult respiratory care, particularly in Cystic Fibrosis. Narelle was awarded a Master’s degree in 2009 from the University of Sydney for research focused on the utility of exercise testing for assessing clinical interventions in children with CF. In 2010 Narelle was awarded a nationally competitive scholarship to undertake her PhD at La Trobe University which investigated participation in physical activity by adults with CF and its effects on clinical outcomes. Her PhD work also explored the use of telemedicine and technology-based strategies to promote physical activity participation.

Contact Details

Email: n.cox@latrobe.edu.au

Hospital for Sick Children, Canada

Dr Greg Wells is currently an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Physical Education and Health and in the Department of Anaesthesia at the University of Toronto. He is also an associate scientist in Physiology & Experimental Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children.

As a researcher, Wells is working in a field of investigation called exercise medicine, where he uses specific exercise protocols to test the limitations of the human body in various diseases – mostly related to muscle and lung conditions. He has been using advanced MRI technologies to measure these limitations, as MRI does not require any radiation or drugs and can offer a look inside the human body without the use of needles or other invasive measures.

Greg's research interests include physical activity, fitness and health outcomes are strongly related, especially in children with chronic disease. Chronically ill children often suffer from exercise intolerance, have poor fitness, participate in fewer activities, and spend less time exercising and they are often deconditioned. Fortunately, exercise and physical activity may attenuate chronic disease and its associated disability.

Therefore the objectives of Wells' research program are 1) to determine the physiological mechanisms of exercise intolerance in patients with chronic disease and to test our Impaired Perfusion and Muscle Metabolism hypotheses and 2) to develop a knowledge base for evidence-based specific exercise and activity interventions. To accomplish this he uses traditional exercise testing, and also non-invasive magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging techniques to investigate the pathophysiology of exercise intolerance in children with chronic disease.

Contact Details

Email: Greg.well@utoronto.ca

University of Exeter, UK

Sarah Denford is a research fellow with a background in Health Psychology and behavior change. She is currently working on a project aiming to promote physical activity, sport and recreation for adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis.

She completed her PhD (awarded in 2011) and Clinical Doctorate in Health Psychology (awarded in 2013). The aim of the PhD was to identify active components of interventions targeting asthma self-care, and to identify psychological processes that change over the course of interventions. Studies undertaken for these doctorates include a systematic review and narrative synthesis, a systematic review and meta-analysis and meta-regression, a qualitative process evaluation of a complex intervention, and three qualitative interview studies.

She has also worked on projects funded by the NIHR CLAHRC for the South West Peninsula; including projects to support practitioners to individualize treatments for patients with chronic disease. For the past three years, she has been funded by the NIHR School for Public Health to undertake applied public health research; including a systematic review of school-based sexual health interventions; a feasibility study exploring the impact of environment on alcohol consumption; the development of an NIHR SPHR catalogue and review of evaluation guidance; and the development of an evaluation website (for Public Health England). Her role also included delivering public health evaluation training to public health practitioners at various sites across England.

Contact details:

Email: S.Denford@exeter.ac.uk

La Trobe University, Australia

Rachel is a research fellow at LaTrobe University, Alfred Health, in Melbourne Australia. Rachel’s background is in Sleep science, and Psychology, with special interests in neuropsychological function related to disturbed sleep. Rachel has worked in clinical, academic, industry, and research settings, with populations such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and depression. Currently, Rachel manages the international RCT investigating an online intervention for physical activity promotion in adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis.

Hospital for Sick Children, Canada

Jessica is a doctoral student at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. Her background is in respiratory physiology with a special focus on the factors that govern respiration during exercise. She uses magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging to determine peripheral and central responses to exercise non-invasively because respiration and exercise tolerance are strongly determined by peripheral skeletal muscle function.

Jessica has worked in the past with clinical cohorts including children with pulmonary hypertension, Turner syndrome, obesity, and Cystic fibrosis. Her doctoral work will examine the efficacy of CFTR modulator therapy in attenuating exercise intolerance in Cystic fibrosis.

Swansea University, UK

Mayara is a PhD student in Sports Science at Swansea University with a background in Interdisciplinary Health Science. Her main interest in research is physical activity and its health-related benefits, especially in Cystic Fibrosis.    

University College London (UCL), UK

Helen is a PhD research student at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.  She graduated from the University of Southampton in 2003 with a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy and then completed an MSc in Paediatrics and Child Health Studies from Cardiff University in 2012.

Helen’s clinical background is in paediatric respiratory physiotherapy.  She developed the Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Physiotherapy Service at Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust and remained working with children and young people with cystic fibrosis ever since, later working at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH). During this time Helen helped to progress the collaborations between GOSH and Nuffield Health and Active Luton exercise facility providers.

Helen also worked on the INSPIRE-CF trial at GOSH, studying the effects of a weekly supervised exercise intervention on a group of children and young people with cystic fibrosis.

Helen’s doctoral research focus is on the psychosocial barriers to physical activity and exercise for children and young people with cystic fibrosis, monitoring activity in this population, and studying the effects of directly supervised exercise, including when the supervision element ends.