Rate My Professor Tony de Soyza

Professor Anthony De Soyza is Professor of Pulmonary Medicine in the Population Health Sciences Institute within the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University. He holds qualifications including MBChB, BMSc, and PhD, with his doctoral research focused on Gram-negative infections in cystic fibrosis. Trained initially in Scotland, he has worked in Newcastle for over 15 years, completing higher specialist training in respiratory medicine and his PhD on lung infections. As an academic clinician and physician-researcher, he serves as Honorary Consultant Physician at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he leads the bronchiectasis service and a clinical trials unit at Freeman Hospital known for high recruitment rates. His career includes the Higher Education Council for England Senior Lecturer Award and progression to full professorship. De Soyza leads a research group on bacteria and chronic lung infections, having established the UK national registry BRONCH-UK from 2014 to 2017 funded by the US COPD Foundation. He holds roles such as National Specialty Lead for the NIHR National Respiratory group, UK Chief Investigator for multiple trials, and international lead investigator positions. He has served on steering committees for RECOVERY RS and EMBARC, led the ACCORD program on complement inhibition, and acted as Chief Investigator for a 30T-sponsored anti-viral trial in COPD and bronchiectasis.

De Soyza's research specializations encompass pulmonary infections, their consequences, and management, particularly Gram-negative infections in cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, and severe COPD. Key interests include lipopolysaccharide biological activity, inflammatory pathways and biomarkers, airway microbiome, bacteriophages, prognostic indices, and lung inflammaging. His contributions extend to COVID-19 research, including local lead for the RECOVERY trial and PHOS-COVID working group. Awards include the 3M Pharmaceuticals Small Airways Research Prize in 1999, University of Newcastle School of Medicine Annual Research Presentation First Prize in 2000, Wellcome Trust Clinical Training Fellowship from 2001 to 2003, British Lung Foundation Young Investigator of the Year in 2003, one of two national HECFE award winners in Respiratory Medicine in 2007, and Vice-Chair of multinational COST action BM1003 in Cystic Fibrosis pathogens from 2010 to 2014. Notable publications comprise 'Phase 3 Trial of the DPP-1 Inhibitor Brensocatib in Bronchiectasis' (Chalmers JD et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2025), 'Symptoms, risk of future exacerbations, and response to long-term macrolide treatment in bronchiectasis' (Sibila O et al., The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2025), 'European Respiratory Society guidelines for the management of adult bronchiectasis' (Polverino E et al., 2017), 'Anxiety, depression, physical disease parameters and health-related quality of life in the BronchUK national bronchiectasis cohort' (De Soyza A et al., ERJ Open Research, 2025), and 'Bisoprolol for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at high risk of exacerbation: the BICS RCT' (Devereux G et al., Health Technology Assessment, 2025). His work has advanced clinical trials, registries, and guidelines, influencing respiratory medicine globally through high-impact journals and leadership in multinational consortia.