23 April, 2025
Voting opened this month 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 ERS Vice President.
The person elected as the next ERS Vice President will subsequently fulfil the role of ERS President Elect, ERS President and Past President over a four-year term.
Candidate: Prof. Nicolas Roche
Nicolas is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Paris Cité University; Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Cochin Hospital, Paris, France; and a clinical researcher at Paris Cité University, Cochin Institute, Paris, as well as at the Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Villejuif, France. His major areas of interest are COPD, asthma, real-life research and inhaled therapy. He has coordinated or contributed to several French and international guidelines on asthma and COPD. He has also authored or co-authored more than 500 articles and book chapters in the respiratory disease arena.
An ERS fellow, Nicolas currently serves as Science Council Chair of the Society, of which he has previously been Internal Auditor, ERS Congress Co-Chair, and Guidelines Director. He belongs to the editorial board of the European Respiratory Journal and is Associate Editor of the European Respiratory Review. He is member of the Global Initiative of Obstructive Lung Disease Science Committee, board member of the Respiratory Effectiveness Group, member of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and has served as President of the Societe de Pneumologie de Langue Française.
Candidate: Prof. Arzu Yorgancıoğlu
Arzu is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the Department of Pulmonology, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey. As well as being a Past President of the Turkish Thoracic Society Executive Committee, she has served as an ERS Turkey National Delegate and ERS Advocacy Council Chair (2020–2023), where she worked to elevate respiratory health as a global priority. Her research and scientific interests focus on the diagnosis and treatment of asthma and COPD – with a commitment to social determinants of health. She believes the need to embrace a holistic ‘one health’ approach.
Arzu has also fulfilled leadership roles in international organisations, including the World Health Organisation’s Global Alliance Against Respiratory Diseases (GARD) network, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Board, the ATS Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical, and Operations Research (MECOR) Programme, the European Parliament’s Active and Healthy Aging Project (EIP on AHA), and the United Nations’ Environment Programme’s Medical and Chemicals Technical Options Committee (MCTOC). She is also a fellow of ERS and ATS.
The deadline for voting is 23:59 CEST on Sunday 22 June. ERS members can visit the ‘Elections’ tab on myERS to vote.