Alberto Papi is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Ferrara, Italy, and Director of the Respiratory Unit of the Department of Emergency Medicine, S. Anna University Hospital, Ferrara, Italy. He trained in respiratory medicine at the University of Parma before spending 4 years in the United Kingdom as a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, where he is an Honorary Clinical Lecturer. His department is also home to the Research Centre on Inflammatory and Smoking-related Respiratory Diseases (CEMICEF). Professor Papi’s main area of research focus is on understanding the mechanisms and treatment of asthma and COPD, especially of airway inflammation and its molecular mechanisms and pharmacological modulation. One of the major scientific interests is the role of respiratory viral infections in stable/exacerbated obstructive lung diseases and the underlying molecular inflammatory and immunological mechanisms. He has also been investigating the role of noninvasive measurements of airway inflammation in characterizing specific populations of patients with obstructive lung diseases. Professor Papi has previously served as a member of the Asthma Board of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and Secretary of the Respiratory Infections Group of the European Respiratory Society. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Asthma Research and Practice, and the Journal of COPD. He has coordinated several pivotal studies in asthma and COPD and has authored more than 350 articles in peer-reviewed journals.