Southampton Team

Although a fulltime NHS Consultant, I hold an Honorary Senior Lecturer post at the University of Southampton and have maintained a very active academic interest, both with the David Hide Asthma & Allergy Research Centre and the University. Having obtained my DM degree in 2003 based on the 10-year follow-up of the Isle of Wight Birth Cohort, I continued to work on that Study contributing to the 18 year follow-up of that work. I also acted as site Principle Investigator for the 17-year follow-up of the Isle of Wight Prevention Study.I am currently a Co-investigator in several ongoing cohort studies studying disease mechanisms related to the natural history of asthma and allergy. These span both the David Hide Asthma & Allergy Research Centre on the Isle of Wight (Isle of Wight Whole Population Birth Cohort and Isle of Wight Prevention Studies), the Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit (BRU) at Southampton plus the Wessex MRC Severe Asthma Cohort. I am site Principle Investigator for 2 BRU Studies (ITEC and MAPS) and for a multicentre study of Omalizumab in clinical practice at Southampton (APEX II Study). I have been a co-applicant on successful grant applications to the MRC and NIHR.

To date I have published 47 papers, of which 18 are 1st authored and 8 last authored. Particular areas of research focus currently include definition of the phenotypic nature of asthma and allergic disease, the use of cluster analysis to define young adult asthma/rhinitis, the early life origins of adult asthma and the phenotypic/ endotypic nature of Severe Asthma in clinical practice.

Carina gained her PhD in 2007 from the University of Southampton: Food Hypersensitivity amongst children on the Isle of Wight – An in depth dietary investigation.

She is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and provides weekly dietetic cover to two allergy clinics (one adult and one paediatric) on the Isle of Wight. She is chair of the British Dietetic Association’s Food Allergy and Intolerance Specialist Group and a member of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Council. Carina is also an Allied Health Interest Group Board member of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and a member of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Carina is Food Allergy Module Leader on the MSc in Allergy at Southampton University and is co-author of the book: Food Hypersensitivity: Diagnosing and Managing Food Allergies and Intolerances.

Carina acts as a member of the Food Standards Agency COT panel or reviewing weaning advice in the UK.

Ratko Djukanovic is Director of the Southampton NIHR Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit where he leads a programme addressing important unmet needs in respiratory diseases across the life-course, including severe asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), bacterial resistance and biomarkers for stratified medicine. He is also the Director of the Southampton Centre for Biomedical Research (SCBR) an institution created by the Southampton Partnership to support translational research in the key areas of expertise in Southampton (Cancer sciences, respiratory medicine, nutrition, bone and joint disease). He is recognised for his collaborative approach to research involving academia and pharma. He co-founded UBIOPRED, the IMI-funded €22M programme in severe asthma, co-leads the MRC/ABPI COPD consortium and was recently elected Chair of the Steering Group of the Translational Research Partnership, a consortium of 9 centres of respiratory research excellence working with industry to help drug development.

Professor Djukanovic has published more than 130 papers and has served as Associate Editor of the European Respiratory Journal and of the European Respiratory Topic, Assistant Editor of Respiratory Research and was a member of the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He was Head of the Clinical Allergy and Immunology Assembly of the European Respiratory Society.

Hans Michael HAITCHI, MD, MMed (INT), PhD, FHEA, PGcert, graduated with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University in Graz, Austria in 1990 and trained and worked as a General Practitioner in Austria until 1996. He completed his specialist training in Internal Medicine with a special interest in Pulmonary Medicine with a Master in Medicine (MMed) from the University of Stellenbosch at Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa in 2000 and his PhD at the University of Southampton, UK in 2008.

He has been an Honorary NHS Consultant Physician since 2009 and has been involved in the “Difficult Asthma” Service as well developing a new clinical service for young patients with asthma in form of a “Young Asthma Patient Clinic” at Southampton University Hospital Trust since 2010. This has been done in close collaboration with Dr Ramesh Kurukulaaratchy (difficult asthma and allergy) and Prof Graham Roberts (paediatric allergy and respiratory medicine) as part of a multidisciplinary team of nurses, psychologists, and physiotherapists.

He is a Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinician Scientist and Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton. As part of his research he leads a group that investigates the pathogenesis of asthma with particular interest in the role of the asthma susceptibility gene ADAM33 and influence of the maternal environment on the early origin of lung disease using in vivo and in vitro asthma and allergic airway inflammation research models. His research is closely related to his clinical interest in asthma of young patients and is based in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton.

Dr Dennison joined the Trust as a consultant in respiratory and general internal medicine in May 2014. As well as working in general respiratory care, he is part of the severe asthma team at Southampton General Hospital, and is the lead for acute asthma management.

Dr Dennison is currently completing his PhD in asthma research, having spent three and a half years as a research fellow at Southampton General Hospital’s respiratory BRU during his registrar years. He remains interested and involved in Southampton’s strong research in asthma, and is part of the strong interactions between clinicians and researchers there.

Dr Laura Flower is a Clinical Psychologist working within respiratory medicine at University Hospital Southampton. She completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton and is a chartered member of the British Psychological Society. Laura’s clinical interests include psychological adjustment and coping with respiratory disease (specifically difficult asthma and COPD). Her therapeutic orientation is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness practice. Laura also has an interest in the role of supervision, consultancy and reflective practice for healthcare professionals. Current research interests include; the role of psychological factors in predicting asthma symptom control and quality of life, mindfulness based stress reduction for quality of life, asthma control and anxiety, and the role of clinical psychologists in multidisciplinary healthcare teams.

Charlotte, having qualified from the University of Huddersfield in 1999, has always worked within the respiratory field. This has predominantly been within the acute setting but more recently in Pulmonary Rehabilitation, running community exercise classes for patients with COPD in the East Dorset and Christchurch area. Areas of interest in the past have included tracheostomy care and rehabilitation in intensive care.

Charlotte is a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), the Association of Chartered Physiotherapist in Respiratory Care (ACPRC) and the Physiotherapy for Hyperventilation group.

Charlotte has worked within The Respiratory Centre since June 2014. Charlotte joined the team as the Asthma Physiotherapist, working alongside the medical team, asthma nurse specialists, clinical psychologist and dietician. Charlotte’s role involves work with patients who commonly suffer with breathing pattern dysfunction. This needs the appropriate correction and retraining. This can be a lengthy process but helps patients to understand their diagnosis, decrease their physical symptoms associated with their breathing pattern and ultimately assist patients in regaining their ability to exercise.