About this project

Patient advisory group

People with experience of sarcoidosis, either as individuals diagnosed with sarcoidosis or as sarcoidosis patient organisation representatives help to initiate and steer the direction of projects through our patient advisory group.

Rita Barriuso

Asociación Nacional de Enfermos de Sarcoidosis

Mindy Buchanan

Foiundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR)

Leo Casimo

SarcoidosisUK

Ana Ciganovic Katic

Serbian Association of Sarcoidosis

Johann Hochreiter

Lungenfibrose Forum Austria

Chris Knoet

Sarcoidose.nl

Filippo Martone

Amici contro la Sarcoidosi Italia ONLUS

Dorrit Novel

Swiss Sarcoidosis Association SSARV - AScS

Bernd Quadder

Deutsche Sarkoidose-Vereinigung e.V.

Katja Schillhorn

Germany

Iliana Tonova

Bulgarian National Sarcoidosis Association

Gianluca Ziosi

Amici contro la Sarcoidosi Italia ONLUS

Past members

Ana-Rosa Alvarez Rodriguez

Asociación Nacional de Enfermos de Sarcoidosis

Gérard Novel

SSSARV - AScS. Gérard sadly died in 2020

Jack Richardson

SarcoidosisUK

Medical experts

Healthcare professionals with expertise in sarcoidosis helped to ensure the information on this website is medically accurate.

Professor R. P. Baughman, MD PhD

Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, USA

Professor Michael Kreuter, MD

Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, Heidelberg University, Germany

Dr Marlies Wijsenbeek

Erasmus Medical Centre, University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Professor Dr Violeta Vučinić

Institute of Pulmonary Disease, Belgrade, Serbia

Global collaboration

The patient advisory group has been involved in a range of projects:

Representatives from the patient advisory group have been members of the ERS Sarcoidosis Treatment Guideline working group which is due to publish its recommendations in September 2020.
An article by the sarcoidosis patient advisory group: Sarcoidosis: patient treatment priorities was published in ERJ Open Research in December 2018 and highlights the findings of our patient survey, the findings of which will be reflected in the final guideline.
In 2015, patient organisations in the ELF patient advisory group identified the most important priorities/issues for individuals with sarcoidosis in the areas of diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care, education and communication.
In 2020, these findings were used to create a sarcoidosis patient journey as part of the activities of ERN-LUNG. This journey represents the views of the patient community. It will be used to inform clinicians about the needs of people with sarcoidosis at different stages of their journey.
Download the sardoidosis patient journey (PDF)
The ELF sarcoidosis patient advisory group members were invited to attend the Management of Sarcoidosis and Interstitial Lung Diseases conference in Belgrade from 22-24 April 2019 by Professor Dr Violeta Mihailovic-Vucinic, President of the Respiratory Society of Serbia and Serbian Association of Sarcoidosis.
The meeting was organised by the Respiratory Society of Serbia and Serbian Association of Sarcoidosis with the aim of bringing specialists together to share and learn about new insights into the diagnositc and therapeutic approach of sarcoidosis and other ILD. Members of the group were also invited as speakers to highlight patient experiences of sarcoidosis. ELF sarcoidosis patient advisory group attended all sessions and also held their own patient meeting during the conference.