Scientific Programme

Johan Verbraecken is pulmonologist and coordinator of the Multidisciplinary Sleep Disorders Centre of the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) since 2005.  He is also the training director for respiratory medicine at the University of Antwerp (Belgium).  In the past he had active roles in the European Respiratory Society as chair of the Sleep and control of breathing Group, as E-Learning Director, as Chair of the Accreditation Review Committee, as co-organiser of the Sleep and Breathing conference, and as organiser of symposia and courses.  His current roles are member of the Respiratory Sleep Medicine committee, associate editor of the Eur Respir J Open Research and Respiratory Research, member of the ERS College of Experts and member ERS Guidelines Committee.  Until recently, he was president of the Belgian sleep society (BASS),  board member of the European Sleep Research Society and member of the Executive Committee of the Assembly of National Sleep Societies (ANSS).  He is author or coauthor of more than 300 scientific papers and contributions in books in the field of sleep.  Milestones are the ERS Statement Papers “Non-CPAP therapies in obstructive sleep apnoea” (ERJ, 2011), “Definition, discrimination, diagnosis, and treatment of central breathing disturbances during sleep”(ERJ, 2017), “Challenges in obstructive sleep apnoea” (Lancet Respir Med 2018), the ESRS Guideline on Insomnia (J Sleep Res 2017) and the recent ERS Guidelines on “Non-CPAP therapies in OSA” (Eur Respir Rev 2021) and on “Technical standards for using type III devices in the diagnosis of sleep-disordered breathing”.  He is Chief Editor of the textbook “Sleep and sleep disorders. A practical handbook” (ACCO, 2020).