Dr. Maria Belvisi

Biography

Professor Maria Belvisi heads the Respiratory Pharmacology group at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London. She is an internationally recognized expert in the respiratory field, with significant academic and industrial experience. Her research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic cough, with the aim of developing innovative therapies for these diseases. She employs translational research, combining in vitro and in vivo data with clinical studies in collaboration with others. Notably, she has worked with Peter Barnes at NHLI to generate key datasets that contributed to the development of tiotropium bromide (Spiriva), a long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonist used for bronchodilator treatment in COPD. Additionally, she has experience from her time at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer/Aventis Pharma, where she led a team in the Respiratory Research Therapeutic area, contributing to the development of Ciclesonide (Alvesco), an inhaled corticosteroid for asthma. With an extensive publication record in peer-reviewed journals, she also serves on the editorial board of various publications. Professor Belvisi has received numerous awards, including the Women In Inflammation Science (2009) and the AstraZeneca Women in Pharmacology Prize (2011), and was elected a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society in 2005. In 2010, she co-founded IR Pharma, a preclinical respiratory drug discovery organization, as part of the Imperial Innovations portfolio.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards