Professor Vanessa McDonald is a professor of nursing and co-director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Severe Asthma, the Centre of Research Excellence in Asthma Treatable Traits, and of the Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs. She is also an academic clinical nurse consultant in the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at John Hunter Hospital. Professor McDonald joined the University of Newcastle in 2011, following the completion of her PhD. Prior to this, she worked clinically within the Hunter New England Local Health District as a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant. She has been a respiratory nurse and educator for over 25 years. Vanessa’s research programme is centred around the development of innovative approaches to personalised management of airway diseases. Her translational research programme links biomedicine, clinical effectiveness and health policy development. Professor Vanessa McDonald has established a productive track record publishing over 140 peer-reviewed journal articles.