Dr. Wouters is Director of the Centre for Chronic Diseases at the Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC), CEO of the Centre for Integrated Rehabilitation of Chronic Organ Failure (CIRO Horn), and Research Leader of the Centre of Excellence for Respiratory Diseases at MUMC. He is Visiting Professor at the University of Vermont, Burlington, USA. Professor Wouters is currently involved in research into inflammation and multi-component pathology of COPD. He is ranked as one of the top ten European researchers in respiratory medicine.