Dr Lorcan McGarvey is Consultant Physician at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at Queen's University Belfast, N Ireland. He graduated in Medicine with Honours from Queen's University Belfast in 1990 and trained in respiratory medicine in Belfast and Sydney, Australia. He is Clinical Lead for the Northern Ireland Respiratory Clinical Research Network and has responsibility for the Regional Specialist Cough Clinic. He has served as Co-Chairman of the British Thoracic Society Cough Guideline Taskforce, a member of the European Respiratory Society Taskforce on Cough and on the Scientific Organizing Committee for the International Society for the Study of Cough. His research has focused on important clinical and scientific aspects of airways disease including the gut-lung mechanisms associated with exacerbations of cough and asthma. Currently he is investigating the expression and functional characteristics of novel ion channels in the airways of asthmatic and cough patients. It is hoped this work will help identify novel targets for the treatment of acute and chronic cough.

Dr McGarvey has been on the editorial board for Cough from its inception and now looks forward to joining his Co-Editors-in-Chief in ensuring Cough continues to develop as an important journal for the dissemination of quality clinical and basic scientific research in cough.