Dr. Barry Linane

A graduate of University College Dublin, Dr Barry Linnane (MB BCh BAO DCH MRCPI MRCPCH MD) is a Paediatric Respiratory Consultant at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, where he is the Director of the Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Programme, caring for 85 children with cystic fibrosis (CF). During a two year tenure at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin he introduced a broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) surveillance programme for pre-school aged children with CF attending the hospital, and is in the process of setting up a similar programme in Limerick. His MD thesis, awarded in December 2009 from Melbourne University, is entitled “Early Pathophysiological Changes in the Lungs of Infants with Cystic Fibrosis”. The study involved bronchoscopy and BAL, CT thorax, and infant lung function testing to describe the early changes in the lungs of infants with CF. Dr Barry Linnane, in partnership with Dr Paul McNally, is a director of  the Study of Host Immunity and Early Lung Disease in CF (SHIELD CF) project. The aim of SHIELD CF is to become a national framework for translational research into early CF lung disease.

Dr Linnane is involved in several national strategies. He was a member of the National Steering Group for the Introduction of CF Newborn Screening in Ireland and currently sits on the newly formed National Bloodspot Screening Programme Governance Group. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the CF Registry of Ireland and is a member of the Medical and Scientific Council of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland. He is Honorary Secretary of the Irish Thoracic Society (ITS) National Council and is a member of the ITS Special Advisory Panels on Asthma, Cystic Fibrosis, and Paediatrics.

His other research interests include; preschool lung function testing, paediatric sleep medicine, asthma, and pre-school wheeze.