Guest Editors A. Torres A. Torres is Professor of Pulmonology at the University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. He gained his degree in medicine from the University of Barcelona with several distinctions, after which he took up a residency in pneumology at the Hospital Clınic ´ of Barcelona (Barcelona) before attaining a PhD. He subsequently obtained a position at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA, USA) where he received the Edward Shanoff Award for his work. A. Torres has gained several additional qualifications and awards, namely a Masters degree in Hospital Management, a European Diploma in Intensive Care, the Josep Trueta Award of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and the 2007 Lilly Foundation’s award in Biomedical and clinical research. His positions of responsibility have included Director of the Clinic Institute of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (Hospital Clınic ´ of Barcelona), Professor of Medicine at the University of Barcelona and Coordinator of all intensive care units for the Clinic Institute of Thorax (Hospital Clinıc ´ of Barcelona). He has been the Coordinator or Chairman of several international investigation groups, including the Institute of Biomedical Investigations August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) and the Quality Research Group, to name but a few, as well as participating in some 27 research projects supported by public funds (ISCIII, CICYT, IDIBAPS, CIRIT, European Community, Generalitat de Catalunya) and being a national and international physician of reference. He has also been Vice-President of SEPAR and President of the area of respiratory infections of the Latin American Thorax Association (ALAT). A. Torres is currently on the Editorial Board for a number of medical journals including the European Respiratory Journal, the American Journal of Critical Care Medicine, Thorax, Chest and Critical Care Medicine, and has 400 publications of his own. S. Ewig S. Ewig is head of the Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases Department at the Thoraxzentrum Ruhrgebiet (Bochum, Germany), a cooperation of several hospitals including one in Herne and one in Bochum, which provide the core services. He obtained his medical qualifications from the University of Bonn (Bonn, Germany) and the University of Heidelberg (Heidelberg, Germany) before undertaking a postdoctoral year at the University of Barcelona. He is a clinical specialist in internal medicine, respiratory medicine, intensive care medicine, infectious diseases, allergology and sleep medicine. His scientific engagement is mainly in the field of pulmonary infectious diseases. He has published extensively in all leading respiratory and infectious disease journals, with more than 200 peer-reviewed papers (including more than 100 original articles), in addition to numerous chapters in books and monographs. He has authored and co-authored several important national and international guidelines on the management of pneumonia. Another field of interest is medical ethics. Several contributions in this field have gained widespread public interest. S. Ewig is a member of the European Respiratory Society where he is currently secretary of the scientific Assembly Respiratory infections and has gained the HERMES qualification certificate. After several years on the editorial board of the European Respiratory Journal, he is now a member of its international advisory board. In addition, he was elected Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP), and has served as national governor for several years. Eur Respir Mon 2011. 53, v. Printed in UK – all rights reserved. Copyright ERS 2011. European Respiratory Monograph ISSN: 1025-448x. DOI: 10.1183/1025448x.10005311 v