Matt is a pulmonologist, genetic epidemiologist, associate director for the Center for Pulmonary Functional Imaging, and the director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He completed medical school at the University of Iowa, residency and chief residency at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a pulmonary fellowship and a Master’s of Public Health at Harvard where he is now an Associate Professor of Medicine. In addition, to caring for patient’s in the Intensive Care Unit, and in the Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic his research has been focused on identifying the factors that will help to diagnose early stages of pulmonary fibrosis. The overarching goal of this work is to target specific groups most likely to progress to pulmonary fibrosis with the hope preventing the more advanced stages of this incurable disease. He is the Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator on 3 R01 grants as well as the site-PI on numerous pharmaceutical sponsored clinical trials. This work has helped to change our understanding of early stages of pulmonary fibrosis and has led to the first international guidelines for the recommendation on reporting and following patients with evidence for early stages of this disease. His grants have focused on three main themes including 1) defining the phenotype and risk factors that best help to predict early stages of pulmonary fibrosis and their progression, 2) genetic, genomic, and proteomic analyses that help to demonstrate the most important genes, and pathways associated with early pulmonary fibrosis development, and 3) screening studies to identify early-stage pulmonary fibrosis in families. Dr. Hunninghake’s ultimate goal is to consider targeted interventional efforts to reduce the progression of early stages of pulmonary fibrosis.

Yet Khor is an NHMRC emerging leadership fellow at Monash University and an interstitial lung disease specialist at Austin and Alfred Health. She is the chair of TSANZ Clinical Care and Resources Sub-Committee.

Dr Zhao is an early-career researcher at the Centre of Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis, where she investigates the environmental and socio-economic impact on interstitial lung disease. She earned her PhD from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, where her research focused on the spatial epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance in food-producing animals. Drawing on her expertise in geospatial modeling, her work is generating novel insights, advancing our understanding of the socio-environmental impact on interstitial lung disease.