Statement from the Early Career Member Committee (ECMC) Chair and Co-chair and introduction of the new ECMC members

Niki Ubags (Chair), Maxime Patout (Co-chair)

In the spring of 2020, Niki Ubags (ECM representative of Assembly 3) was elected as Chair of the ECMC. As the professional and personal situations of ECMs can change, it was decided to appoint a Co-chair who is available to take over the tasks of the Chair where needed and serves as a sounding board for the Chair in all ECMC related matters. Maxime Patout (ECM representative of Assembly 2) was concurrently appointed as Co-chair of the ECMC. A brief description of who we are was published last year [2].

The previous committees have worked hard to ensure that the ECMC representatives are now involved in all committees and working groups across the ERS. This development guarantees that the voice and needs of the ECMs are heard in these groups. We are committed to continue this upward trend and to extend the involvement of and activities for ECMs in the coming years.

2020 has posed tremendous challenges for all respiratory professionals. To better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the training and work of our ECMs, a survey was prepared and distributed. We collected more than 500 responses from across Europe and beyond, from clinicians to scientists to allied healthcare professionals. Moreover, we collaborated with the Early Career Professionals of the Chinese Thoracic Society to prepare short presentations on COVID-19 related topics. Over the next 2 years, we will work towards providing additional resources for personal and career development for our members. Moreover, we will continue to organise dedicated Congress sessions for ECMs and further collaborations with early career professional committees of related societies.

The input of our members is crucial to make sure we can tailor these activities to the needs of the ECMs at different stages in their training and career. Moreover, we aim to involve our members in tasks such as chairing sessions at the ERS International Congress and plan to provide additional resources for those that are taking on this task for the first time. All ECMC members can be approached with questions and ideas. Their details can be found in the ERS members’ directory. If you want to be more involved in ERS activities, such as article writing or session chairing, please sign up to the competence list via MyERS and indicate your areas of expertise and interests, or contact one of the ECMC members at the Congress or via e-mail.

Orianne Dumas, Assembly 6

Orianne Dumas is the new ECM representative of Assembly 6 (Epidemiology and Environment). Orianne is a researcher in the “Integrative Respiratory Epidemiology team” of the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health (CESP), at Inserm (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Villejuif, France). She has 10-years’ experience working in respiratory and environmental epidemiology. She strongly contributed to the emerging evidence for adverse effects of cleaning products in asthma and COPD, based on French and US studies. She received her PhD from University Paris-Sud in 2012 and carried out postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) from 2013 to 2015. She has been awarded several competitive grants, including the L'Oréal-Unesco “For women in science” fellowship and the EU-funded Prestige-Marie Curie fellowship. Since 2019, she has led a research programme on day-care environment, nasal microbiota and respiratory health in young children, funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

Joana Cruz, Assembly 9

Joana Cruz is the new ECM representative of Assembly 9 (Allied Respiratory Professionals). She is a physiotherapist currently working as a lecturer at the School of Health Sciences (ESSLei) and a researcher at the Center for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare) of the Polytechnic of Leiria (Leiria, Portugal). She obtained her PhD in 2016 at the University of Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal) and worked on a post-doctoral project led by the University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada) in partnership with the University of Aveiro (Lab3R-ESSUA), from 2016 to 2017. Currently, she is leading a research project which aims to develop and implement an mHealth coaching platform for personalised physical activity promotion in COPD, funded by Portuguese national funds provided by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. Her main interests are physical activity, pulmonary rehabilitation, exercise, self-management and informal caregiving in chronic respiratory diseases. At the end of 2020, she took up a role as associate editor of ERJ Open Research.