He runs a translational research group primarily focused on developing novel diagnostics and treatments for respiratory infections, with current major programmes looking at neutrophilic inflammation and the microbiome in bronchiectasis, COPD and severe asthma. He is a co-founder and Chair of EMBARC. James D. Chalmers has published over 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals since 2008, and has received prestigious research and teaching awards from the British Thoracic Society, ERS and Royal College of Physicians. He is an Associate Editor of the European Respiratory Journal, a member of the International Advisory Board of Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Secretary of the European Board for Accreditation in Pneumology, Chair of the British Thoracic Society Respiratory Infections Speciality Advisory Group and holds a number of other major society/committee appointments. Mathias W. Pletz Mathias W. Pletz, Professor for Infectious Diseases, is a board-certified physician for internal medicine, pulmonology and infectious diseases, and the Head of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control of the University Hospital in Jena (Germany). He also leads a clinical research group focusing on novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies against MDR bacterial pathogens, funded by the German Ministry for Science and Education. Mathias W. Pletz received his PhD in Virology at the University of Leipzig (Germany). During his thesis he worked as a guest researcher at the Food and Drug Administration Laboratory of Parasitic Pathology and Biochemistry (Bethesda, MD, USA). After his medical training at the University of Leipzig, Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX, USA) and the University of Basel (Switzerland), he started his residency at the Chest Hospital in Berlin (Germany). Subsequently, he spent 2 years as a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University (Atlanta, GA, USA) working with Keith Klugman’s group on the spread of multiresistant pneumococci. In addition, he served as a guest researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, exploring the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemics. After his return to Germany, he finished his medical training at the Dept of Respiratory Medicine at the Hannover Medical School. Mathias W. Pletz is the Deputy Director of the German Competence Network for Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAPNETZ), a member of the Board of Directors of the German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGI) and scientific viii https://doi.org/10.1183/2312508X.10000917