Donna Davies BSc, PhD

Donna Davies is Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, within Medicine at the University of Southampton. Professor Davies’ research is focused on chronic lung diseases such as asthma, COPD and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis which are a major burden on the healthcare system and represent unmet needs. Her main interests are on the structural cells in the lungs, particularly epithelial cells that form the barrier to the external environment and fibroblasts that are in close communication with the epithelium and together control tissue homeostasis. In chronic lung diseases, disruption of these homeostatic mechanisms affects the local tissue microenvironment and promotes inflammation and tissue remodelling. Her ultimate goal is to use information about disease mechanisms towards development of novel treatments.