Ian Pavord

Ian Pavord is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Physician at the Oxford University Hospitals. He is a member of congregation at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of St Edmund Hall. He was a Consultant Physician from 1995 and Honorary Professor of Medicine from 2005 to 2013 at the Institute for Lung Health, Glenfield Hospital, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. He was elected an NIHR Senior Investigator in 2011& 2014, an inaugural Fellow of the European Respiratory Society in 2014 and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2015.

Professor Pavord identified eosinophilic, type-2 high airway inflammation as a key treatable trait in patients with asthma and COPD and recognised that this pattern of airway inflammation is associated with an increased risk of exacerbations of airway disease and corticosteroid responsiveness. He discovered and validated simple, clinically accessible biomarkers of type-2 high inflammation and demonstrated their clinical value, resulting in new management guidelines for severe asthma and COPD.  His team carried out the first proof-of-concept study of the biological agent Mepolizumab (anti-IL-5), showing that it was highly effective when given to patients with eosinophilic, type-2 high inflammation.  He has been a key driver of the successful clinical development of 4 other biological agents targeting this process, including Dupilumab.  In 2004 he delivered the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Cournand Lecture and in 2016 received the ERS gold medal for research in asthma.  He chaired the 2018 Lancet Commission on asthma. 

Professor Pavord was co-editor of Thorax from 2010-2015, Chief Medical Officer of Asthma UK from 2008-14, Associate Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine from 2005-10 and has been Associate Editor of the European Respiratory Journal since 2016. He is the author of over 450 publications and has an H-index of 109, making him the second highest cited researcher in asthma worldwide.