Irish Thoracic Society gathering to showcase latest respiratory research

The annual meeting in Naas will bring together specialists to share research and discuss advances in respiratory medicine

The Irish Thoracic Society (ITS) will hold its Annual Scientific Meeting at the Killashee Hotel, Naas, Co Kildare, on 19–20 November 2026. The two-day event will bring together respiratory professionals to discuss research, clinical practice, and developments in respiratory medicine.

Opening

The meeting will open on Thursday 19 November with poster reviews covering asthma, tuberculosis, cystic fibrosis, infection, and general respiratory medicine. Prof David Jackson, Professor in Respiratory Medicine, King’s College London, and Clinical Lead for the Severe Asthma and Eosinophilic Lung Disease Service, Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals, London, UK, will deliver the first keynote presentation.

Prof Jackson received his medical degree from University College London in 2001. During his respiratory clinical training in London, he completed an MSc in Allergy followed by a PhD from Imperial College London in 2013.

In 2015, following the creation of specialist commissioned severe asthma centres by NHS England, Prof Jackson was appointed as a full-time consultant to lead the regional severe asthma centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Trust alongside his asthma research. After four years in this role, Prof Jackson took a clinical reader position at King’s in 2019. He was promoted to Professor in 2022.

He has published over 100 research articles, authored multiple book chapters, and been an invited speaker at many major international respiratory congresses over recent years. Prof Jackson is committed to furthering education and training in asthma and has created several Guy’s-based asthma courses and workshops. His keynote presentation will focus on biologics in asthma and how and when to switch treatments.

This will be followed by invited abstract presentations and discussions, before a case study forum featuring poster reviews and oral presentations. The day will conclude with a prize-giving reception.

Symposium

The second day of the programme (Friday 20 November) will begin with a breakfast symposium. This will be led by Dr Liam Townsend, Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases, St James’s Hospital, Dublin; and Prof Liam Heaney, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Queen’s University Belfast, and Director, Northern Ireland Regional Difficult Asthma Service.

Dr Townsend graduated in medicine from Trinity College Dublin in 2013. He became a member of the RCPI in 2015, commenced higher specialist training in infectious diseases and internal medicine in 2016, and was awarded a certificate of satisfactory completion of specialist training in 2023.

Dr Townsend was awarded a PhD in 2021 for his work examining the variation in clinical outcomes and immune consequences of viral infection, as part of the Health Research Board and Wellcome Trust-funded Irish Clinical Academic Training Programme.

He has a particular interest in the variability of immune responses to viral infections, particularly SARS-CoV-2 and HIV.

He is also interested in the measurement and modification of biological ageing in chronic infection and post-infectious states.

Dr Townsend will deliver a talk on the burden of respiratory syncytial virus disease amongst severe acute respiratory infection admissions and the implications for vaccination.

Prof Heaney is an internationally recognised expert in the clinical assessment and management of severe asthma, where his research programme has focused on disease stratification to identify personalised treatment approaches and interventions for individuals with severe asthma.

In May of this year, he was elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Commenting on this recognition, Prof Heaney said: “I am delighted to receive this honour reflecting many years of research by a large team of colleagues and collaborators and I thank them all for their partnership and support.”

“Advances in the assessment and management of severe asthma over the past decade have been truly remarkable, with many exciting novel therapies currently in development for the future.” The title of Prof Heaney’s talk is ‘OCS [oral corticosteroid] toxicity in asthma – are we intervening too late?’

The symposium will be followed by poster reviews and scientific sessions covering chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial lung disease, sleep medicine, lung cancer, pleural disease, and surgery.

Keynote presentations

The second day will also feature a keynote presentation by Prof Francis X McCormack, Professor and Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of Cincinnati, US.

Prof McCormack is a rare lung disease expert and lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) therapy pioneer.

He has served as the Scientific Director and Chair of the LAM Foundation’s scientific advisory board since 1995.

Prof McCormack was among the pulmonologists who helped to push forward research efforts that led to the first clinical trial for women with LAM. He is a passionate advocate for LAM research and has made significant contributions to the medical community’s understanding of the disease, the clinical care of individuals with LAM and to the establishment of clinical trials for women with LAM.

Further oral presentations will follow, after which lunch and the ITS Annual General Meeting will take place.

An expert update session will provide another opportunity to hear about developments in respiratory medicine. Later in the afternoon, Dr Anne Valerie Gonzalez, Associate Professor, McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre, Canada, will deliver a keynote presentation on interventional pulmonology.

Dr Gonzalez is a pulmonary and critical care physician with advanced training in epidemiology and biostatistics.

Her clinical practice and research focus on the investigation and management of patients with lung cancer, from initial suspicion through diagnosis, staging, and treatment decision-making, as well as the evaluation of novel interventional pulmonary techniques, including advanced bronchoscopy and pleural procedures.

Her research aims to improve lung cancer outcomes through targeted screening strategies, accurate and timely diagnosis and staging, and the judicious application of innovative interventional pulmonary techniques. Her work encompasses clinical research and clinical trials, particularly those evaluating novel bronchoscopy techniques, as well as collaborative research in health informatics to track patient care pathways and the use of health administrative databases to study lung cancer and COPD.

Dr Gonzalez’s broader research interests include clinical epidemiology, health services, and health policy. She also contributes to evidence reviews and guideline development in lung cancer diagnosis and staging, with an emphasis on improving the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of patient care.

The scientific programme will conclude on Friday afternoon, followed by a drinks reception and gala dinner.

Several affiliate forums and parallel meetings will also take place during the event, including the ITS Paediatric Forum, the ANAIL (respiratory nurses) Meeting, the ITS Physiologist Forum, the Irish Pleural Group Meeting, and the Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care Meeting.

Conference Agenda: Irish Thoracic Society, Annual Scientific Meeting, Killashee Hotel, Naas, Co Kildare, 19–20 November 2026