Rate My Professor Peter Wark

Professor Peter Wark is a Conjoint Professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle and a senior staff specialist in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle. He qualified with a Bachelor of Medicine from the University of New South Wales in 1991, became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine in 1999, and completed his PhD at the University of Newcastle in 2001 on mechanisms of bronchial epithelial cell activation in response to rhinovirus infection. From 2001 to 2005, he undertook post-doctoral research as an NHMRC Neil Hamilton Fairley Travelling Fellowship recipient at the University of Southampton and University College London. In his clinical roles, he directs the John Hunter Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic, leads the Advanced Respiratory Failure Clinic, serves as Area Director for the Oxygen and Related Products Scheme, and chairs the Hunter New England Local Health Network Respiratory Stream, overseeing respiratory services for a catchment population of 840,000. He is a senior member of the Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs, a member of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Executive Board, and Chairman of its Clinical Care and Resources Subcommittee since 2011. Additionally, he holds editorial positions as Editor for Clinical and Experimental Allergy since 2010 and for the Cochrane Collaboration since 2000, and is a Fellow of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and the American Thoracic Society.

Professor Wark's research specializes in airway inflammation, the role of viral infections in acute exacerbations of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cystic fibrosis, and innate immune responses in airway epithelial cells, including type I interferons, NLRP3 inflammasomes, and therapeutic targets such as biologics and CFTR modulators. His laboratory employs in vitro models like primary bronchial epithelial cells to study rhinovirus and influenza infections, epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, and multi-omics approaches for biomarkers. Key publications include 'Efficacy and safety of elexacaftor plus tezacaftor plus ivacaftor versus tezacaftor plus ivacaftor in people with cystic fibrosis homozygous for F508del-CFTR: a 24-week, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, active-controlled, phase 3b trial' (2021), 'Survival of people with cystic fibrosis in Australia' (2022), 'Mepolizumab is not inferior to omalizumab, improving asthma control in severe allergic and eosinophilic asthma, a randomised, blinded, non-inferiority trial' (2024), and 'Omalizumab is an effective intervention in severe asthma with aspergillus sensitisation' (2020). His work has influenced clinical trials, grant-funded projects such as a $2.1 million initiative for cystic fibrosis treatments, and guidelines through TSANZ leadership.