A/Prof Lucy Burr

Associate Professor Lucy Burr is an experienced respiratory physician and clinical trials researcher at Mater Research – University of Queensland (UQ).  A/Prof Burr leads the Respiratory and Infectious Diseases Research Group and is the Program Clinical Lead for the Chronic and Integrated Care program at Mater Research. She has a PhD (2017) in bronchiectasis microbiology and is an Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, UQ. She is the Director of Respiratory and Cystic Fibrosis medicine at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane.

A/Prof Burr is recognised nationally for her clinical work on respiratory infections. She is the chair of the expert reference group on COVID-19 for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the chair of the Acute and Critical Care panel for the National COVID-19 clinical evidence taskforce. Additionally, she is a recent (2021) convenor of the respiratory infectious disease special interest group of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Queensland TSANZ branch past president, a recent board director of the TSANZ national body and a core member of the Australian Bronchiectasis Consortium and the Australian CF Centre Director group. A/Prof Burr also chairs the scientific sub-committee of the Australian bronchiectasis registry.

She is recognised internationally for her work on Cystic Fibrosis and Bronchiectasis (top three per cent expertscape https://expertscape.com/au/bronchiectasis/Burr%2C+Lucy) and has published in high impact clinical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet Respiratory Medicine, across a range of respiratory and infectious disease subjects, with over 1,000 citations in the past five years.

In addition to her clinical work, A/Prof Burr is the custodian and manager of the David Serisier Respiratory Biobank, a clinical repository of human samples from patients recovered from or vaccinated against COVID-19. A/Prof Burr is also an experienced principal investigator on many pharmaceutical studies ranging from phase 1b to phase 4 studies investigating therapeutics for CF, IPF and bronchiectasis. She has designed and led non-pharmaceutical interventional studies investigating the role of macrolide in modulating inflammation in healthy adults.

A/Prof Burr has a proven track record in collaborative and translational research across diverse fields including respiratory infections, sleep medicine, cystic fibrosis, broncheictasis and lung cancer. In 2020/21 she established specific collaborative SARS-CoV-2 projects with COVID-19 researchers, enabling the sharing of clinical samples to advance basic research in the treatment of COVID-19. She is currently a consultant on two peer reviewed external grants totalling $1,306,000, including one involving biobanked samples, and is a chief investigator on a 2021 Ideas Grant and a 2022 MRFF grant totalling more than $3 million.

Top 5 Publications in last 5 yrs

Citations since 2017=1009, H-index 14 

• Keating D, Marigowda G, Burr L, Daines C, Mall MA, McKone EF, et al. (2018) VX-445–tezacaftor–ivacaftor in patients with cystic fibrosis and one or two Phe508del alleles. New England Journal of Medicine 379: 1612-1620.This paper depicts A/Prof Burr’s ability to collaborate and perform multicentre RCTs including patient recruitment, protocol completion and data analysis.

• Geraint B Rogers, Steven L Taylor, Lucas R Hoffman, Lucy D Burr, The impact of CFTR modulator therapies on CF airway microbiology Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 19:2, 359-364. This invited review, with Lucy as the senior author updates the role of CFTR modulators an their impact on microbiology. This invited paper depicts A/Prof Burr’s emerging standing in the field.

• Long-term macrolide antibiotics for the treatment of bronchiectasis in adults: an individual participant data meta-analysis JD Chalmers, W Boersma, M Lonergan, L Jayaram, ML Crichton,  Noel Karalus, Steven L Taylor, Megan L Martin, Lucy D Burr, Conroy Wong, Josje Altenburg: Lancet Respir Med 2019;7: 845–54 This again highlights A/Prof Burr’s emerging standing in the field and her involvement in the national and international bronchiectasis community.

• J. Vogel, et al (2021) Clinical care of pregnant and post partum women with COVID-19: Living recommendations form the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, ANZ Journal of Obstetrics and Gynae; 60,2: 840-851.  This publication demonstrates Lucy’s ongoing commitment to the Guideline Leadership Group of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence taskforce

• Rhiannon B Werder, Md Ashik Ullah, Muhammed Mahfuzur Rahman, Jennifer Simpson, Jason P Lynch, Natasha Collinson, Sonja Rittchen, Ridwan B Rashid, Md Al Amin Sikder, Herlina Y Handoko, Bodie F Curren, Ismail Sebina, Gunter Hartel, Alec Bissell, Sylvia Ngo, Tejasri Yarlagadda, Sumaira Z Hasnain, Wenying Lu, Sukhwinder S Sohal, Megan Martin, Simon Bowler, Lucy D Burr, Laurent O Martinez, Bernard Robaye, Kirsten Spann, Manuel AR Ferreira, Simon Phipps (2022), Targeting the P2Y13 Receptor Suppresses IL-33 and HMGB1 Release and Ameliorates Experimental Asthma, Am J resp crit care medicine;205,3; 300-312.  This international collaborative work used specimens collected in the David Serisier Respiratory Biobank, coordinated by A/Prof Burr, who is the custodian.