Highlights of 2017 at the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research

Thank you to all at the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research for making 2017 another productive and successful year!

Special thanks to our Patient and Public Involvement group who helped facilitate our first Patient Involvement Fair, reviewed PPI bursary applications and co-facilitated training for researchers. PPI leads Elisabeth Ehrlich and Olivia Fulton also presented at the BTS Winter meeting and NHS Research Scotland Annual Conference, respectively, providing patient perspectives for an audience of policymakers, healthcare professionals and researchers.

Highlights of 2017 include:

• Professor Aziz Sheikh's University of Edinburgh Principal's Medal Award for Exceptional Service
• Launch of REACH database of asthma research volunteers
• Professors Ian Pavord and Andy Bush's Lancet Commission on asthma
• Professor Hilary Pinnock's NIHR Signal on the systematic meta-review of supported self-management for asthma
• Professor Chris Griffiths' Guardian article on UK air pollution and respiratory health
• Joint Centre meeting with the MRC and Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma
• University of Leeds join the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research
• Abby King's antimicrobial stewardship paper featured on the front page of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (volume 110, number 8)

Members also published 180+ papers on asthma, with Professor Adrian Martineau's Vitamin D Supplementation paper scoring in the top 65 most-discussed journal articles of 2017 out of 2.2 million different research outputs.

Read the full paper in the BMJ

Our students in particular have published papers on a wide variety of topics, including:

• Biomarkers in asthma

• Use of mobile applications to support asthma self-management

• Healthcare costs of asthma co-morbidities

• Algorithms to define and assess asthma using electronic health records

• UK adolescent perceptions of asthma and exercise

• Financial incentives to encourage self-management

• Inequality gaps in asthma in Wales

Moving into 2018, we look forward to continuing working towards encouraging good asthma control, maximising the benefits of treatment, reducing exacerbations and preventing deaths caused by asthma. In particular, we look forward to the graduation of our first cohort of PhD students and the upcoming symposium on prediction modelling for clinical medicine.

For more Centre news from 2017, visit: www.aukcar.ac.uk/news-and-events

To view publications, visit: www.aukcar.ac.uk/publications