Learn online

The Online course is almost the same as the Onsite course in content; however, it is lecture based.

The course is divided into modules, similar to the themed days on the onsite course. All modules must be completed and, as you progress through the modules, you will be tested to ensure a satisfactory level of knowledge and understanding. On successful completion of the course you will be able to download a certificate of CF training which has been endorsed by the European CF Society. Delegates will be able to print off a slide set for each talk, in total these will form a course manual similar to the onsite course manual. At the end of three months delegates will have enhanced confidence in the care they provide for patients with CF – children or adults.

On payment of the course fees, delegates are given access to the Online course for three months. During this time you will be able to view the lectures and complete the assessments.

All lectures are in English, delegates from all countries are most welcome to sign up.

Delegates must have at least one year of experience working in cystic fibrosis.

Tutorials
On successful completion of the Online course, delegates can choose to participate in our twice-yearly tutorials. At each tutorial, speakers from both the Onsite and Online course hold live sessions where delegates are given the opportunity to ask questions and discuss issues relating to the course.

Click here
to register for
the online course

Faculty

Speakers are experts in their areas both nationally and internationally.

Faculty are from:

The Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK
University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester, UK
University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
University Hospital, Leuven, Belgium
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA
Frimley Park Hospital, Frimley, UK
Charles University & Motol University Hospital, Prague, CZ
Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK

Download the full
Onsite and Online
faculty list (PDF)
here.

Current speakers

Ian Balfour-Lynn

Dr Ian Balfour-Lynn has been a paediatric respiratory consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London since 1997. He is the Director of Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis. He is Chair of the Cystic Fibrosis Group of European Respiratory Society, and the Paediatric CF representative on the Specialised Medicine CRG.

Vanessa Bara

Vanessa Bara qualified as a dietitian in 2009 after earlier careers in the NHS in public health intelligence and poisons information, and in the pharmaceutical industry working in medical information and drug safety. She has worked as a dietitian in a variety of clinical areas including paediatrics, oncology, neurology and respiratory and has worked in two adult CF centres in London (St Bartholomew's Hospital and latterly the Royal Brompton Hospital). She has previously held the post of secretary of the British Dietetic Association CF Specialist Group.

Christian Benden

Dr Benden completed his paediatric training in Hannover and London. Dr Benden is a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), and a former Chair of the ISHLT Scientific Council on Paediatric Transplantation. He is Associated Editor of "Pediatric Transplantation” and Editorial Board Consultant of “Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation”. Dr Benden's research interests include clinical aspects of lung transplantation, particularly in children and adolescents, experimental aspects of chronic lung allograft dysfunction, and cystic fibrosis lung disease.

Zelda Beverley

Zelda Beverley did her MSc in Physiotherapy at the University of Southampton after a BSc in Exercise and Sports Science at The University of Exeter. Zelda has been in working at the Royal Brompton Hospital in Cystic Fibrosis since 2010. She has a specialist interest in exercise, physical activity and non-invasive ventilation. Zelda has also completed post-graduate modules on leadership in healthcare and exercise in health and disease.

Dr Amanda Brennan

Dr Amanda Brennan is a consultant in respiratory medicine with a specialist interest in cystic fibrosis. She spent three years as a research fellow at St George’s Hospital and The Royal Brompton Hospital researching the effect of cystic fibrosis-related diabetes on respiratory disease and was awarded a PhD. She was granted a CF Trust Clinical Fellowship in 2006, which she carried out at the Manchester Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre, becoming a consultant there in 2009. She has published on aspects of cystic fibrosis-related diabetes and has been invited to speak both nationally and internationally. Her areas of interest include cystic fibrosis-related diabetes and pregnancy.

Mandy Bryon

Dr Mandy Bryon is a consultant clinical psychologist and Joint Head of the paediatric psychology and play services at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London. She lectures extensively on psychosocial aspects of childhood illness, particularly CF, to professional and parent audiences. Dr Bryon co-founded the UK Psychosocial Professionals in Cystic Fibrosis Group and currently organises the International Psychosocial Special Interest Group for the European Cystic Fibrosis Society. Dr Bryon has researched in many areas of the psychological impact of childhood illness, particularly sibling relationships, adherence to treatment, attachment, eating disorders and body image disturbance in CF.

Siobhán Carr

Dr Siobhán Carr is a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital. Dr Carr undertook the majority of her paediatric respiratory training at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children with some time spent in Sydney, Australia. She worked as the Paediatric CF Centre Director at The Royal London Children’s Hospital for over 14 years before moving to the Royal Brompton Hospital. Her areas of expertise are primary ciliary dyskinesia, cystic fibrosis, non-CF bronchiectasis and immunodeficiency. Dr Carr has presented to national and international audiences at CF conferences for many years and been involved in CF research.

Fiona Cathcart

Fiona Cathcart graduated from the University of East Anglia and then completed a Master’s degree in advanced cardiorespiratory physiotherapy at the University of Herefordshire. Fiona has been developing her expertise in CF since joining the Royal Brompton Hospital in 2010. Her special interests include medicines for inhalation, non-invasive ventilation and end of life care. Fiona, in partnership with Dr Madge developed an advanced care planning document for adults with CF which is available on the CF Trust website. She was an author on the ACPCF/CF Trust standards of care and good clinical practice for physiotherapy.

Marie Creedon

Marie Creedon qualified as a dietitian in 1997 from the University of Surrey. For the past 12 years Marie has worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London and has a wide range of experience in paediatric nutrition. Marie has been the Principal Respiratory Paediatric Dietitian for 9 years, a role which specialises in the nutritional care of 180 children attending Great Ormond Street Hospital for their cystic fibrosis care. Marie is a member of the UK Cystic Fibrosis interest group and the European Cystic Fibrosis Nutrition Group and is also active in audit, research and lecturing on her specialist subject both nationally and internationally.

Jane Davies

Jane Davies is Professor of Paediatric Respirology & Experimental Medicine at Imperial College, London and Honorary Consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital. Prof Davies has a major interest in airway infection and early airway inflammation, leading a CF Trust Strategic Research Centre on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as part of which collaborators are researching novel detection methods suitable for young, non-expectorating patients. She also co-leads the site at the ECFS Clinical Trial Network. In an effort to accelerate the inclusion of younger children in trials once safe and effective agents are identified, she has been working on the standardisation of lung clearance index, a sensitive measure of pulmonary health in early disease.

Dr Patrick Flume

Dr Patrick Flume joined the faculty of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1993. He is a professor of medicine and peadiatrics, overseeing a rapidly growing cystic fibrosis Centre, including the only adult CF program in South Carolina. Dr Flume has been recognised by the national and international CF community having served on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Centre Committee, the Adult Care Consensus Committee, the Advisory Task Force on Adult Issues, the Professional Education Committee, and is co-chair for the Pulmonary Practice Guidelines Committee.

Milan Macek Jr

Dr Milan Macek is the chairman of the Department of Medical- and Molecular genetics at 2nd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University Prague and University Hospital Motol and head of the National Coordination Centre for Rare Diseases. He is also co-chairman of the National Cystic Fibrosis Centre. He studied medicine at Charles University, Prague, did postdoctoral Professor stays at Institute of Human Genetics, Humboldt University, Berlin and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. His main research interests comprise molecular genetics of rare diseases, development of novel therapies in cystic fibrosis.

Susan Madge

Dr Susan Madge is the Director of the Adult CF Centre and a consultant curse at the Royal Brompton Hospital. She is both adult and paediatric trained and has worked with children and adults with CF since 1984. Following a Master’s degree, Susan completed a PhD at University College, London. Her areas of interest and research include adolescence, fertility and pregnancy, quality of life and end of life issues. She is involved nationally and internationally in various aspects of CF care.

Christopher Orchard

Dr Chris Orchard is CF and respiratory medicine consultant working at Frimley Park Hospital. He qualified form St Georges medical School and trained in North West London in respiratory medicine. He was a research fellow for two years at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He has been a consultant since 2014 and as well as his interest in CF he is clinical lead for the HDU and infection control.

Helen Oxley

Helen Oxley is Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Manchester Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre and has now worked in this large CF unit for twenty years. Helen is also co-chair of the UK Psychosocial professionals in CF group and has been closely involved in developing psychological services, standards of care and clinical practice in CF nationally as well as at a local level. Helen has published papers and book chapters in various areas of psychology and adult CF care, and has presented widely in the UK and Europe on these topics. Helen has a special interest in service development in areas including end of life care, transplantation issues and transition.

Dr Kinesh Patel

Dr Kinesh Patel is a consultant gastroenterologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. He qualified from Imperial College London in 2004 with distinction and subsequently undertook postgraduate specialist training in north-west London. In 2016, he was appointed jointly as a consultant in gastroenterology at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Thomas Semple

Dr Thomas Semple is a consultant cardiothoracic and paediatric radiologist at The Royal Brompton Hospital. Dr Semple completed his radiology training on the University College London training scheme before undertaking an academic fellowship at The Royal Brompton under the supervision of Professors Padley, Hogg and Davies. Working in close collaboration with Dr Catherine Owens at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Dr Semple’s clinical and research interests include childhood interstitial lung disease imaging, ventilation and pulmonary perfusion MRI, neonatal respiratory-gated CT and implementation and optimization of paediatric cardiac CT – particularly for neonatal coronary imaging.

Nicholas Simmonds

Dr Nicholas Simmonds graduated in medicine from the University of Nottingham and subsequently gained a doctorate from Imperial College, London. His thesis topic was long-term survival in CF which included CFTR function variability and environmental (non-genetic) factors. He was appointed as Consultant Respiratory Physician and CF Specialist at the Royal Brompton Hospital in 2010 and also holds an Honorary Senior Lecturer position with Imperial College. His main specialist interest is the diagnosis of CF in equivocal or atypical cases. He has extensive experience of nasal potential difference measurement and is a member of the European Diagnostic Network Working Group.

Guy Thorpe-Beeston

Mr Guy Thorpe-Beeston is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, and has an honorary consultant appointment at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He qualified from Cambridge University and subsequently subspecialised in fetal medicine. He has a specialist interest in high-risk pregnancies and co-ordinates the obstetric care of women with CF.

Colin Wallis

Dr Colin Wallis is a consultant paediatrician in paediatric respiratory medicine at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH). Dr Wallis has a specific interest in the care and management of children with chronic lung disease, in particular CF, and the child with long-term ventilatory needs, and is the respiratory representative on the GOSH NSCAG tracheal service. He has also been awarded funding to evaluate the early changes in CF lung disease from the CF Trust together with researchers at the Institute of Child Health.

Gavin Whitehouse

Dr Whitehouse is a Consultant Hepatologist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He trained in General Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology in London and completed subspecialty Hepatology training at the Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College Hospital in transplant hepatology and Liver Intensive Care. His post graduate research focused on tolerance induction strategies and immunosuppression withdrawal in liver transplantation and he was a co-investigator for the ThRIL study investigating a regulatory T cell therapy in liver transplant recipients.