Toby Maher

Toby Maher is British Lung Foundation Chair in Respiratory Research and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinician Scientist. He is Professor of Interstitial Lung Disease and heads up the Fibrosis Research Group at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London. He is also an honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician on the Interstitial Lung Disease Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital and is Director of the NIHR Respiratory CRF and Director of Respiratory Research at Royal Brompton Hopsital.

Training

Prof Maher qualified from Southampton Medical School. He trained in Respiratory Medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital. During his training he gained an MSc in Respiratory Medicine from Imperial College London. In 2005 Dr Maher was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship undertaken at the Centre for Respiratory Research, University College London and culminating in the award of a PhD.

Clinical Expertise

Prof Maher has a clinical interest in interstitial lung disease. His particular areas of expertise include; idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), hypersensitivity pneumonitis, sarcoidosis, Langerhan’s cell histiocytosis and Lymphangeiolyomyomatosis. He also manages pulmonary fibrosis and lung disease associated with systemic conditions such as Rheumatoid arthritis, and Scleroderma.

Current Research

Prof Maher runs an active clinical and translational research program and oversees a team of 15 trial staff, PhD fellows and post-doctoral scientists. Prof Maher's research interests include; basic and translational research into idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; with a major focus on biomarker discovery, early phase clinical trials and the pre-clinical validation of putative targets and compound for the treatment of fibrosing lung disease.

Prof Maher's current funded research includes; 1) the PROFILE study, a longditudinal biomarker discovery program. In collaboration with Nottingham University the PROFILE study has now recruited over 500 individuals with IPF. 2) an MRC EME funded randomized controlled trial of Rituximab as a treatment for connective tissue disease associated interstitial lung disease - the RECITAL study and 3) and NIHR Clinician Scientists fellowship to evaluate diagnostic biomarkers for fibrotic interstitial lung disease.

Prof Maher is the Director of the NIHR Respiratory Clinical Research Facility at Royal Brompton. He is currently the global Chief Investigator for a number of commercial studies of novel compounds being tested in trials for IPF and other interstitial lung diseases. Prof Maher and his team have recruited over 1000 subjects to more than 35 clinical studies in the last 8 years.

As well as publishing original research, expert reviews and book chapters, Prof Maher acts as an expert reviewer for a number of international medical and respiratory journals. He is an Associate Editor for American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and is a past Senior Editor of Respirology and past Associate Editor of PLOSOne. He is on the Editorial Board of the European Respiratory Journal, the European Respiratory Review and F1000 Journal and on the Advisory Board of Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Society Activities

Prof Maher has been actively involved in a number of specialist societies. He was on the executive of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and sat on the steering committee of the BTS IPF and Sarcoidosis database working group. He is a past Chair of the BTS Rare and Interstitial Lung Disease Specialist Advisory Group. He is the former treasurer of the British Association for Lung Research (BALR). Prof Maher is a past Chair of the NHS England Specialist Respiratory Clinical Reference Group and he continues to work closely with NHS England advising on the development and delivery of specialist respiratory services. He was, until recently, a Trustee of the British Lung Foundation.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

• Molyneaux PL, Fahy WA, Byrne AJ, et al., 2022, CYFRA 21-1 predicts progression in IPF: a prospective longitudinal analysis of the PROFILE cohort, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol:205, ISSN:1073-449X, Pages:1440-1448
• Richeldi L, Azuma A, Cottin V, et al., 2022, Trial of a preferential phosphodiesterase 4B inhibitor for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis., New England Journal of Medicine, Vol:386, ISSN:0028-4793, Pages:2178-2187
• Maher TM, Corte TJ, Fischer A, et al., 2020, Pirfenidone in patients with unclassifiable progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:8, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:147-157
• Maher TM, Stowasser S, Nishioka Y, et al., 2019, Biomarkers of extracellular matrix turnover in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis given nintedanib (INMARK study): a randomised, placebo-controlled study, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:7, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:771-779
• Allden SJ, Ogger PP, Ghai P, et al., 2019, The transferrin receptor CD71 delineates functionally distinct airway macrophage subsets during idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol:200, ISSN:1073-449X
• Distler O, Highland KB, Gahlemann M, et al., 2019, Nintedanib for systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease, New England Journal of Medicine, Vol:380, ISSN:0028-4793, Pages:2518-2528
• Maher TM, Oballa E, Simpson JK, et al., 2017, An epithelial biomarker signature for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: an analysis from the multicentre PROFILE cohort study, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:5, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:946-955
• Herazo-Maya JD, Sun J, Molyneaux PL, et al., 2017, Validation of a 52-gene risk profile for outcome prediction in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: an international, multicentre, cohort study, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:5, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:857-868
• Allen RJ, Porte J, Braybrooke R, et al., 2017, Genetic variants associated with susceptibility to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in people of European ancestry: a genome-wide association study., Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:5, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:869-880
• Birring SS, Wijsenbeek MS, Agrawal S, et al., 2017, A novel formulation of inhaled sodium cromoglicate (PA101) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic cough: a randomised, double-blind, proof-of-concept, phase 2 trial., Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Vol:5, ISSN:2213-2600, Pages:806-815
• Saunders P, Tsipouri V, Keir GJ, et al., 2017, Rituximab versus cyclophosphamide for the treatment of connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (RECITAL): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial, Trials, Vol:18, ISSN:1745-6215
• Molyneaux PL, Willis Owen SA, Cox MJ, et al., 2017, Host-microbial interactions in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol:195, ISSN:1535-4970, Pages:1640-1650
• Kreuter M, Wijsenbeek MS, Vasakova M, et al., 2016, Unfavourable effects of medically indicated oral anticoagulants on survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: methodological concerns, European Respiratory Journal, Vol:48, ISSN:0903-1936, Pages:1524-1526