Deborah Yates trained in Medicine at Cambridge University and several London teaching hospitals. Later, she joined the Central Pneumoconiosis Panel in London and gained experience in a broad spectrum of occupational lung diseases including coal workers pneumoconiosis, silicosis, asbestos-related disorders and occupational asthma. She completed an MSc in Occupational & Environmental Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and also the AFOM (UK) and the Dip Occ Med. After spending some time in respiratory medicine in Australia, she returned to the UK and an MD from Cambridge University at the National Heart & Lung Institute on the topic of asthma. Since permanently moving to Australia in 1995, she has continued her research and clinical interest in occupational and obstructive lung diseases. She is a Senior Staff Specialist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, Conjoint Associate Professor at UNSW and active in the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), the Australian Lung Foundation, and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP). She publishes regularly in the fields of respiratory medicine and occupational lung disease and has a particular interest in physician wellbeing and Women in Medicine.

Prof Fraser Brims is a Consultant Respiratory Physician at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Director of Research at Curtin Medical School. He is chair of the WA Mesothelioma Registry and is Deputy Director of the Institute for Respiratory Health where he heads the Occupational and Respiratory Health research group. His has a clinical and research interests in occupational and asbestos related diseases, and early lung cancer detection, as lead of the WA Asbestos Review Program.

Dr Sheikh M. Alif is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia and a Research Fellow of Respiratory Science at the University of Melbourne. Alif is an early-career occupational and respiratory epidemiologist specialising in exposure assessment and its impact on chronic diseases in longitudinal studies. Alif has over 16 years of research experience studying exposure assessment in multiple occupations where people are exposed to pesticides, solvents, lead, asbestos, coal mine dust and silica.

Christine is head of the Respiratory Group at The George Institute for Global Health; Clinical Professor at the University of Sydney; and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at UNSW Sydney. She is a thoracic physician with a clinical research focus on the management of airways disease and has overseen many clinical trials and participated in international study steering committees and monitoring boards. Christine has been active in advocacy and leadership for lung health in Australia over many years. At The George Institute she manages a research group implementing trials in asthma and COPD in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Professor Hubertus Jersmann graduated in Germany and completed his physician training and his PhD in Australia. He practices respiratory and sleep medicine at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and also visits Alice Springs Hospital every 2 months for the past 14 years. Professor Jersmann is an Interventional Pulmonologist, performing procedures such as endobronchial lung volume reduction and other procedures. His research comprises clinical trials, where he is the principal investigator for all Asthma studies and is part of the Lung Research Laboratory, studying mechanisms of lung inflammation and the role of macrophage phenotypes in lung cancer. As a teacher Professor Jersmann lectures in the Medical Program of the University of Adelaide, where he inaugurated the curriculum content on Climate Change and Health in 2009. He lectures at both, Flinders University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide. His passion outside medicine is conservation and sustainability, He cycles to work every day, is a vegetarian, composts and recycles, has a photovoltaic solar system, 2 home batteries, solar hot water and three battery electric vehicles.

Ms Janet Williams has formal qualifications in nursing and education, and is active in both public and private health systems. Specialising in respiratory, smoking cessation and lung health education and promotion, as well as quality systems and clinical governance for almost twenty years Appointed manager of the Lung Health Promotion Centre at the Alfred Hospital in March 2015, Janet manages and presents with world-class health professionals a diverse programme of specialist and general lung health and education seminars and courses. The Lung Health Promotion Centre at The Alfred, unique in Australia is a leading centre for courses related to Smoking Cessation, Asthma, COPD and Spirometry, as well as patient engagement and education methods, motivational interviewing and positive psychology