University of Newcastle researcher selected for Aust-China Scientist Exchange Program

Friday, 14 November 2014

Associate Professor Jodie Simpson from the University of Newcastle's Priority Research Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Diseases will visit China from 18 November to 5 December 2014 on the Australia-China Young Scientists Exchange Program.

Associate Professor Jodie Simpson

Australian universities were limited to submitting one application under this scheme which is supported by the Commonwealth of Australia and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.  Simpson, along with 14 future leaders from Australian universities, was selected for this exchange program.  She will visit colleagues from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, and Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province.

Simpson has an established national and increasingly international research profile in the fields of non-eosinophilic asthma, non-invasive assessment of airway inflammation, and neutrophilic airways diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).  Her most recent work examining new treatments for patients with neutrophilic airways disease, while continuing to examine the mechanism leading to neutrophilic bronchitis, is of particular relevance in China where more than 100 million people are estimated to suffer from COPD, and more than 20 million are affected by asthma.  In collaboration with Dr Peng Gao from the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Jilin University, Simpson will establish and optimise laboratory methods that are essential for Australia/China research collaborations.

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