21 May, 2025
Last month, voting opened for the ERS Leadership Elections 2025, which presents candidates for ERS Vice President, Advocacy Council Chair, Education Council Chair, and Publications Committee Chair.
To help ERS members cast their vote, we will be shining a spotlight on each candidate. This week, we profile the candidates for Education Council Chair.
The person elected as the next Education Council Chair will start their shadow period in October 2025, and their official mandate in September 2026.
Candidate: Prof. Felix Herth
Felix is the Chief Medical Officer of the Thoraxklinik, one of the oldest and largest lung centres in Europe. As Head of the Department of Pneumology and Critical Care Medicine, Felix and his team focus on the diagnosis and therapy of respiratory tract diseases, such as COPD, lung emphysema, cystic fibrosis, fibrosing alveolitis, and pulmonary hypertension; on invasive and non-invasive ventilatory support for patients with respiratory deficiency or failure; and on sleep related respiratory disorders. He provides expertise is provided in all fields of bronchoscopy, taking a lead position in the development of devices for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In 2023, he was honoured with the ERS Educational Award.
His research interests are COPD, lung cancer, interstitial lung diseases, and interventional bronchoscopy. Felix is one of the European health leaders working closely with the European Public Health Commission. He also serves as board member of several societies, including ERS, the German Society of Respiratory Medicine (DGP) and the German Lung Research Foundation (DZL).
Candidate: Associate Prof. Mariëlle Pijnenburg
Mariëlle is Associate Professor in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine and Head of the Department of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Erasmus MC – Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Mariëlle’s research focuses on the monitoring and management of children with severe asthma as well as the monitoring and follow up of children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
Mariëlle has been active within ERS for more than 15 years now and has been the Secretary and Head of Assembly 7. She has been actively involved in the development and delivery of several ERS educational activities, including the Academy of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, the Paediatric Respiratory Infections course, the Paediatric Asthma course, the ERS/European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR) course, several postgraduate courses as well as the joint webinar series with the Pan African Thoracic Society and ESPR. She has a strong belief that education and training are crucial to improve respiratory health around the globe, which is the theme of the ERS 2025 congress in Amsterdam, of which she is one of the chairs.
The deadline for voting is 23:59 CEST on Sunday 22 June. ERS members can visit the ‘Elections’ tab on myERS to vote.
Meet the candidates for ERS Vice President
Meet the candidates for Advocacy Council Chair