Meet the 2025 Winner: Paul D. Robinson, MD, PhD, MRCPCH, FRACP, ATSF
Conjoint Professor, Paul Robinson, MD, PhD, MRCPCH, FRACP, ATSF is the Deputy Director of the Children’s Health Environment Program (CHEP) at the University of Queensland, and Senior Staff Specialist in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Queensland Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
His research program to date has focused on the evolution of early lung disease and its detection and monitoring in multiple disease states within Pediatric Pulmonology. He has led the development and standardization of novel measures of lung function across the entire age range from infancy onwards, facilitating the development and validation of commercial equipment available for widespread use within clinical trials and within clinical care. Through his work two specific peripheral airway function tests (Multiple breath washout, MBW, and oscillometry) have advanced from promising research tools to the threshold of clinical care for important obstructive lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma and post bone marrow transplant pulmonary graft vs host disease. More recently his appointment to a senior leadership role within a large research group spanning respiratory physiology, environmental epidemiology and basic science research has expanded this focus to include identifying early life risk factors for disease, understanding the underlying mechanisms and developing interventions to prevent/mitigate disease evolution and exacerbation.
Within ATS he has held several senior leadership roles, including chairing several technical standard task forces for multiple breath washout, associate editor for AJRCCM and serving as the past chair of the Pediatric assembly Program committee. After the 2025 ATS conference he will commence his role as the next chair-elect of the International conference committee. At an institutional level he has developed and led multidisciplinary clinical services for complex (or severe) asthma and the respiratory complications of bone marrow transplantation at two tertiary pediatric institutions for nearly a decade. He currently co-chairs the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand working group seeking to establish a national Pediatric Severe Asthma Registry.
Description
This award is given to a mid-career candidate who is recognized for achievements in research, mentorship, clinical care, education, advocacy, or scholarship. Individuals should be known for their contributions to the field of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine. Candidates in Pediatric Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Neonatal Medicine will be considered.
Eligibility
- The nominee must be a member of the ATS.
- Nominees must be at the Associate professor level or within <5 years of full Professor, and within 10-20 years from their first academic appointment.
- Active contributions to the ATS and the Pediatrics Assembly in the form of Committee Chairmanships will be viewed favorably.
- MD and Ph.D. applicants will be accepted.