Holger Schünemann, MD, PhD
Chairman

As internist and clinical epidemiologist with special interest and training in respiratory disease research, I have recently accepted the position of Chair of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, the birthplace of problem-based learning and evidence-based medicine. I am an early member of the GRADE working group, which focuses on methodology for guideline development, and co-convene the Applicability and Recommendations Method Group of the Cochrane Collaboration Group and have authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications, many of them focusing on guideline and research methodology. My current academic interest focuses on improving methods and collaboration in evidence syntheses and guideline development. Other research focuses on systematic review methods, study design, information presentation, quality of life research methodology and respiratory medicine.

Previously I worked at the Department of Epidemiology at the Italian National Cancer Institute "Regina Elena" in Rome, Italy and have been Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University and tenured Associate Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, NY, USA. I have participated in EBM education for over a decade and regularly tutor at the "How to teach evidence based clinical practice workshop (EBCP workshop)" at McMaster University. As Inaugural Documents Editor (2005-2012) for the American Thoracic Society (ATS), an internationally leading professional society for respiratory, critical care and sleep medicine, I am responsible for guideline and other official document development and I chair the documents development and implementation committee. I have developed guidelines with many organizations including the World Health Organization and the American College of Chest Physicians, as well as regional and local guidelines. Our "poster child" is of course the upcoming ARIA revision - a mammoth task I agreed to take on in 2007. Jan Brozek has to bear most of the consequences of this decision ;-) and it is through his dedication that we are making so much progress. I am Editor-in-Chief of the Biomedcentral journal Health and Quality of Life Outcomes (we are anxiously awaiting the journal's first impact factor in 2009).

I graduated from the Medical School of Hannover, Germany, in 1993, completed PhD training in epidemiology, internal medicine and preventive medicine and public health in Hannover and at SUNY Buffalo.

Jan Brożek, MD, PhD
Vice Chairman

I am a general internist with special interest in allergy and immunology. I work in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada.

For the last seven years I have been involved in the efforts of the GRADE working group the aim of which is to create a sensible, systematic, and transparent approach to clinical practice guideline development and grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations in particular. I am a member of the Cochrane Collaboration Applicability and Recommendations Methods Group and I have recently accepted the position of a methodologist for the American Thoracic Society (ATS).

Recently I have been involved in the development of two guidelines under the aegis of the WAO: the revision of Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) and the Diagnosis and Rationale for Action against Cow’s Milk Allergy (DRACMA).

Prior to my current appointment I had been a research associate at the Department of Epidemiology at the Italian National Cancer Institute "Regina Elena" in Rome, Italy and an instructor at the Department of Medicine at the Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in Krakow, Poland, where I had developed and tutored a course in EBM for medical students.

For the last ten years together with a group of EBM enthusiasts concentrated around Polish Institute for EBM and the publisher "Practical Medicine" in Poland I have been critically appraising medical literature and preparing the structured synopses of current valid research results for Polish clinicians. I have also been involved in adaptation of the American College of Chest Physicians guidelines on the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism for Poland and co-edited a handbook on EBM for medical students and clinicians in Poland.

I have a special interest in education and teaching, especially in simplifying the presentation of complex information for clinicians.

I graduated from the Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in Kraków, Poland in 1995, where I also earned a PhD in genetics of aspirin resistance.

Philippe Jean Bousquet, MD, PhD

After being graduated as a Public Health doctor of the Medical University of Montpellier - Nîmes (in the South of France), I spent one year for a post-doctorate at the Imperial College in London. I worked on the European Community Respiratory Health Survey, and dealt with IgE sensitization using both skin prick tests and serum specific IgE measurement. This was part of my PhD thesis, based on IgE sensitization. I am now working at the Biostatistic, Epidemiology, Public Health and Medical Information Department of the University Hospital of Nîmes, part of the University of Montpellier. As an epidemiologist and a methodologist, I used to deal with studies protocols and data (from protocols writing and planning to reports writing).

Medico-economics and quality of life studies, which are part of my work, are of interest for me. Additionally, I am one of the methodologist of the local French ethic committee Comité de Protection des Personnes (CPP) that supervises the ethic aspects of the medical research. Finally, I teach the critical article review (both methodological and clinical aspects) at medical students.

In complement, I passed a degree in Clinical Immunology and Allergy that allows me a clinical practice. One of my interests in allergy is drug allergy and hypersensitivity. Since 2004, I have developed an Internet database on drug allergy, Drug Allergy and Hypersensitivity Database (DAHD). This multicentres, historical- prospective mixed cohort collects histories of drug allergies and resulting tests (including oral challenges). By consequences, several studies where performed using this database. I have also been involved in several projects. One of them is the ARIA update and more accurately the complementary and alternative medicine, and the general update. I was also part of the WAO taskforce on clinical trial for allergen-specific immunotherapy recommendations. Finally, I am a member (the integration officer) of the GA²LEN European network.

Carlo Tomino, PharmD

Since 2001 I have been the Head of the Clinical Trial Unit at the National Medicines Agency (AIFA) in Rome, where I am also responsible for the National Monitoring Centre on Clinical Trials with Medicines (OsSC).

I also spent more than 10 years at the National Institute of Health (ISS) as coordinator of many clinical trials on HIV/AIDS and new oncology medicines.

I am deeply involved in the Efficacy Working Party, Safety Working Party and Pharmacogenetics Working Party at the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). Regularly, I take part in clinical trials ad hoc groups in the European Commission for the development of related new rules.

Since 2002 I am also member of the Commission for the evaluation of Phase I protocols, at the National Health Institute (ISS). Since 2004 I have been a member of the Advisory Group of Applied Clinical Trial Journal.

Furthermore, I am author and co-author of more than 100 publications, many of them based on the methodology and state of the art of the clinical research in Italy. I have published two books on the clinical trials methodology and rules.

I graduated in Pharmacy at "La Sapienza" University of Rome in 1991, with a Specialization Diploma in Applied Pharmacology at the Medicine and Surgery Department of the same University in 1996.

Since 2005 I have been Associate Professor at the Donetsk University (Ukraine).

Martin Penagos, MD, MSc

After earning my degree in Medicine at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico, I moved to Mexico City where I specialized in Pediatrics in 1997. Two years later, I reached a Master Degree in clinical epidemiology; my thesis project was an investigation in diagnostic tests, specifically on biomarkers to diagnose invasive infection in children with immunodeficiency. In 1998 I joined the Pediatrics Hospital at the National Medical Center in Mexico City as consultant. This is the national tertiary referral center for complex pediatric patients. In 1999, I became associate member of the faculty of Pediatrics and Clinical epidemiology. From 2001 to 2003, I carried out a specialization in Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the National Pediatrics Institute. During my training, my work was focused on ocular allergy.

In 2004, I was accepted by Prof. G. Walter Canonica to attend his Service at the Department of Internal Medicine of the University of Genova, Italy. During 18 months, I was involved in clinical and research activities in his Respiratory Allergy Clinic, where I received training in specific immunotherapy and immunology laboratory techniques. I participated in some Evidence based medicine teaching programs and I took part in systematic reviews carried out in his department regarding both asthma and allergic rhinitis treatment.

During 2007 I visited Prof. Stephen Durham at the Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College of London, UK. During 12 months, I joined his study group that researches asthma and rhinitis and the clinical role and mechanisms of allergen immunotherapy. I participated in systematic reviews about specific immunotherapy efficacy and in a research project involving evaluations of Internet search engines. Also, we developed a database of RCT evaluating the efficacy of subcutaneous and sublingual immunotherapy.

Currently, I am working on my PhD dissertation. This is a RCT about the effects of immunotherapy with immunostimulatory sequences of CpG on Th1/Th2 responses in patients with ocular allergy.