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Annually, ERS presents an array of prestigious awards to acknowledge scientific merit and engagement within the ERS by honoring exceptional members for their exemplary achievements and potential for further outstanding developments.
Leo Heunks has been awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Respiratory Intensive Care of the European Respiratory Society. The award ceremony will take place during the annual congress in Vienna, September 2024.
Background
Leo Heunks is professor of intensive care medicine and head of the department of intensive care medicine at the Radboudumc. His clinical and research interests focus on respiratory physiology, the effects of critical illness and mechanical ventilation on respiratory muscle function, difficult ventilator weaning and ARDS. Critically ill patients frequently develop weakness of the respiratory muscles, which is associated with prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation, difficult weaning from the ventilator and even higher mortality. Currently, no interventions have been proven effective in preventing or treating critical illness associated respiratory muscle weakness. By collaborating with basic scientists and clinicians we aim to improve understanding of critical illness associated respiratory muscle weakness and investigate potential treatment (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) strategies. Improved outcome of critically ill patients is important for ICU patients, but also allows us to effectively use limited ICU resources.
Leo Heunks was research fellow at Mayo Clinic (Rochester (MN), Loyola University Medical Centre, Chicago (IL), and Saint Michaels Hospital Toronto. He is associate editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, member of the executive committee of the Plug (pleural pressure working group), and visiting professor at Zhejiang University School of medicine, Hangzhou, China.
