Rate My Professor Chris Brightling

Professor Chris Brightling is NIHR Senior Investigator and Clinical Professor in Respiratory Medicine in the Department of Respiratory Sciences at the University of Leicester, part of the College of Life Sciences. He serves as Director of the Institute for Lung Health, Respiratory Theme Lead for the Leicester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician, Coordinator of the MRC Molecular Pathology Node EMBER, Respiratory lead for the IMI 3TR consortium, Chair of the European Respiratory Society Science Council, and National lead for the post-COVID consortium PHOSP-COVID. A Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences elected in 2019, he has held roles including Founding Director of the European Respiratory Society Clinical Research Collaborations and contributed to guidelines such as the American College of Chest Physicians’ Cough Guidelines, British Thoracic Society, American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society Severe Asthma guidelines, and Global Initiative for Asthma scientific committee. His career at the University of Leicester encompasses leadership in research excellence, coordinating COVID-19 responses across university and NHS sites, achieving the highest and fastest recruitment rates for the RECOVERY trial, and supporting research setup at NHS Nightingale Hospital London.

Brightling's research specializes in the immunopathogenesis and clinical management of airway diseases, including asthma, chronic cough, and COPD, with focus on mast cell-airway smooth muscle interactions, airway smooth muscle migration and remodelling, and biomarker development for disease phenotyping. He pioneered demonstrating the clinical utility of measuring airway inflammation in asthma and COPD management, identified non-asthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis as a cause of chronic cough, and translated mechanistic insights into clinical trials impacting international guidelines. He has authored over 450 peer-reviewed articles, including highly cited works such as 'Asthma exacerbations and sputum eosinophil counts: a randomised controlled trial' (2002), 'Mast-cell infiltration of airway smooth muscle in asthma' (2002), 'Mepolizumab and exacerbations of refractory eosinophilic asthma' (2009), 'Cluster analysis and clinical asthma phenotypes' (2008), and contributions to RECOVERY trial reports on dexamethasone and tocilizumab for COVID-19 (2020-2021). His work has advanced precision medicine strategies, supported clinical fellows' careers, and influenced global respiratory care through consortia like PHOSP-COVID for long-term COVID-19 follow-up.