Prof. Manuela Funke-Chambour is chief physician and deputy director of the pulmonary department at the university hospital in Bern, Switzerland. Her clinical and research focus are ILD and pulmonary fibrosis. She initiated the ongoing Swiss lung fibrosis cohort study.
This study is intended for research on disease course, risk factors and biomarkers, but is also used to facilitate patients’ recruitment for interventional studies. She heads investigator-initiated clinical trials e.g. focusing on cough as a patient-centered outcome. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led a multicenter swiss cohort study, involving nine centers spanning all language regions and generated data on post-acute lung impairment and biomarkers following COVID-19. Her clinical efforts are enhanced by translational research projects investigating lung fibrosis and viral effects on lung tissue using diverse in vitro and ex vivo models.
These studies aim to deepen the understanding of the condition and bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical practice, ultimately improving patient care. She leads the European REMAP-ILD initiative, is part of the REMAP-ILD International Fundraising Committee and the REMAP-ILD International Steering Committee.
While current antifibrotic drugs have shown limited efficacy in improving lung fibrosis, numerous trials with new drugs are currently underway or in the planning stages, each necessitating its own control arm. This fragmentation diminishes the pool of patients who could potentially benefit from new drugs. Physicians face increasingly challenging decisions regarding which trial to engage with. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the power of collaborative endeavors, demonstrating that concerted efforts can yield successful treatment modalities and avert the adoption of ineffective approaches in a timely manner. It is imperative that we embrace this collective approach to clinical trials, facilitating faster identification of solutions. Manuela Funke-Chambour
While current antifibrotic drugs have shown limited efficacy in improving lung fibrosis, numerous trials with new drugs are currently underway or in the planning stages, each necessitating its own control arm. This fragmentation diminishes the pool of patients who could potentially benefit from new drugs. Physicians face increasingly challenging decisions regarding which trial to engage with. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the power of collaborative endeavors, demonstrating that concerted efforts can yield successful treatment modalities and avert the adoption of ineffective approaches in a timely manner. It is imperative that we embrace this collective approach to clinical trials, facilitating faster identification of solutions.
Manuela Funke-Chambour