Jack Cramm Auditorium Faculty of Education Building 3700 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1Y2

Breathlessness Management Services in the Primary Care Setting of the United Kingdom Dr. Rachael Evans , University of Leicester, United Kingdom Biosketch : Dr. Evans is an Associate Professor at the University of Leicester and Honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK. Relevant clinical work includes leading her regional integrated diagnostic breathlessness service including the implementation of a joint diagnostic cardiorespiratory clinic originally part of an NHS-England pilot. She played a leading role in the design of the NHS-England diagnostic pathway published 2023. Relevant academic work includes her NIHR clinician scientist fellowship (2017-2022) to investigate clinical pathways to lead to earlier diagnosis and treatments for people presenting with chronic breathlessness and other NIHR grants investigating the use of Artificial Intelligence for interpretation of spirometry. Dr. Evans is one of the three lead investigators for the UK wide Post-hospital COVID-19 (PHOSP-COVID) study. She is also the European Respiratory Society Group 01.02 Pulmonary Rehabilitation chair and the American Thoracic Society Pulmonary Rehabilitation Assembly chair.

Invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing in the evaluation of unexplained dyspnea: Insights from a multidisciplinary dyspnea center Dr. Aaron B. Waxman, MD, PhD, FACP, FCCP , Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Biosketch : Dr. Aaron B. Waxman is the Executive Director of the Center for Pulmonary Heart Disease, and the Director of the Pulmonary Vascular Disease (PVD) Program at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In this role he has developed a comprehensive PVD program to provide state of the art clinical care to complex patients, engaged in multi-disciplinary collaborative research, and provided education and training to students, residents, fellows, and colleagues throughout the world. His academic clinical efforts focus on improving diagnosis, risk stratification, and management of PVD. To that end, he has developed clinical protocols for quality improvement and patient management; has obtained successful support for new clinical trials and has initiated studies for innovative application of existing technology. Dr. Waxman proposed, obtained funding for, and established a comprehensive center to evaluate patients with unexplained resting or exertional dyspnea. This Multidisciplinary Dyspnea/Exercise Intolerance Evaluation Center brought together a core group of clinical experts from Pulmonary, Cardiovascular Medicine, and Radiology along with input from Neurology, Rheumatology, and Psychiatry, to collaboratively develop streamlined efficient and effective approaches to assessing and treating patients with dyspnea. Dr. Waxman is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, the American College of Physicians, and the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute. Dr. Waxman earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the George Washington University, and his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine. He has authored more than 150 publications.

Dyspnea in mechanically ventilated patients- From detection to non-pharmacological relief Dr Maxens Decavèle, MD, PhD , Sorbonne Université, France Biosketch : After a medical residency in respiratory medicine, Dr. Decavèle specialized in critical care and had a 5-year senior experience in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Weaning Center at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France (Prof Alexandre Demoule), with an Associate Professor position since 2022. Through his position at Sorbonne University - INSERM UMR_S1158 unit (Prof Thomas Similowski), Dr. Decavèle conducts fundamental and clinical studies in respiratory neurophysiology. His main research topics in this field are dedicated to the development of tools to assess respiratory suffering in its multiple dimensions and inferring dyspnea in non-communicative patients in the ICU setting. Besides these physiological works around dyspnea, Dr. Decavèle's main research topics in the clinical field focus on acute respiratory failure in the immunocompromised patients. He has also developed skills and interests in thoracic imaging in critically ill patients.

Fan-to-Face Therapy for Relief of Exertional Breathlessness and Optimization of Exercise Training Outcomes in people with Chronic Pulmonary Disease Rachelle Aucoin, PhD (C), McGill University, Canada. Biosketch: Rachelle Aucoin is a 4th year PhD Candidate in the Clinical Exercise and Respiratory Physiology Laboratory of the Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education at McGill University. Coupled with 5+ years of experience as a practicing Clinical Exercise Physiologist and High-Performance Specialist, her wider research interests lie in improving physical and mental health in clinical populations using exercise. At Dyspnea 2024, Rachelle will present preliminary results from her doctoral thesis investigating the effects of fan-to-face therapy as a non-pharmaceutical adjunctive intervention to reduce breathlessness and optimize exercise training outcomes in symptomatic adults living with chronic obstructive or restrictive pulmonary disease.

Facilitator : Dr. Magnus Ekström (Lund University) Panelists : Keynote Speakers, Emerging Dyspnea Scientists, and Abstract Presenters

Dyspnea Society Executive Committee: Dr. Andrew Binks (President), Dr. Janelle Yorke (Secretary), Dr. Marie Williams (Treasurer)

The Evolution of Respiratory Interoception: My career as a Dyspnea Scientist - Past, Present, and Future Dr. Paul Davenport , Distinguished Professor, Department of Physiological Sciences, University of Florida Biosketch : Dr. Paul W. Davenport, PhD is a respiratory physiologist and Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida. His PhD training was in systems physiology and biophysics at the University of Kentucky. There, he was initiated into respiratory mechanosensation by Dr. Fred W. Zechman, Jr. in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Kentucky. He received postdoctoral training with Dr. Giuseppe Sant’Ambrogio at the University of Texas, Medical Branch. He was recruited to the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine and provided a unique, collaborative and supportive environment for animal and human studies on respiratory sensory processing. He served: the University of Florida, Faculty Senate, Chair-Elect, Chair, Past-Chair; as the University of Florida, Interim Chair, Department of Physiological Sciences; Faculty Member on the University of Florida, Board of Trustees; Frontiers in Respiratory Physiology, Founding Editor; and Co-Founder of Aspire Products, LLC. He has taught professional veterinary and medical students respiratory physiology for 43 years. He has supervised undergraduate students, PhD and MS students, Post-Doctoral Fellows and Residents and Veterinary student research investigations. His research has been funded by multiple agencies and resulted in over 50 book chapters/review articles, over 200 refereed publications and over 325 research abstracts. He currently is investigating brain responses to respiratory mechanical loads.

From Academia to Industry to Patient Advocate - Lessons Learned About Exertional Dyspnea and Activity Limitation Dr. Alan Hamilton, Senior Director of Research, PIVOT Lead, COPD Foundation, Canada/USA Biosketch: Dr. Alan Hamilton PhD is a clinical scientist with a focus on the development/evaluation of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for alleviation of breathlessness and activity limitation in patients with chronic lung disease. After completing his PhD (Physiology; 1995) and Postdoctoral Fellowship (Pharmacology; 1997) at McMaster University, Alan joined Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), a global pharmaceutical company. Alan had several scientific leadership roles during his 25-year career with BI: Global Clinical Evidence Program Lead (Phase I to Phase III/IIIb) for tiotropium/olodaterol, a combination bronchodilator in COPD (2004-15); Behaviour Change Intervention Design Team Lead and Clinical Evaluation Lead for Airology, a digital self-management support solution in COPD (2018-21); COPD Biomarker Qualification Consortium (CBQC) Steering Committee Industry Co-chair (2020-21). After leaving BI in 2022, Alan established Alan L Hamilton Consulting Inc and partnered with the COPD Foundation (US), taking on the role of Senior Director of Research and PIVOT Program Lead ( P atient I nspired V alidation of O utcome T ools). Alan has an adjunct appointment in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University (Department of Health Research Methods, Impact and Evaluation).

Facilitators : Dr. Andrew Binks, President, The Dyspnea Society (Virginia Tech) and Dr. Hayley Lewthwaite, Co-Chair, Dyspnea 2024 (University of Newcastle)

Dr. Dennis Jensen (Chair, Dyspnea 2024 Organizing Committee) & Dr. Andrew Binks (President, Dyspnea Society)

For those interested, Dr. Magnus Ekström will lead a walking tour of Montreal ending with drinks and dinner