ERS | monograph Guest Editors Ulrich Costabel Ulrich Costabel is Professor of Medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Essen, Germany) and Senior Consultant in Interstitial and Rare Lung Diseases at the Ruhrlandklinik (Essen, Germany). He was previously Chief of the Division of Pneumology and Allergology at the Ruhrlandklinik. He received his undergraduate training and his MD magna cum laude at the University of Freiburg (Freiburg, Germany). In 1992–1993, he spent a 6-month sabbatical with Professor Takateru Izumi at the Chest Disease Research Institute of the University of Kyoto in Japan (Kyoto, Japan). Ulrich Costabel’s research interests lie in clinical and immunological studies in ILDs, with a specific focus on clinical and research applications of BAL. In recent years, he has acted as principal investigator for major clinical trials in IPF. He is Past President of the World Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous Disorders (WASOG) and organised the World Congress on Sarcoidosis in Essen in 1997. He has been Chairman of the European BAL Group since 1998 and has co-organised several international conferences on BAL. Ulrich Costabel has been actively involved with the European Respiratory Society (ERS) since its inception, having been Chair of the Occupational and Environmental Health Group and Secretary of the Occupation and Epidemiology Assembly, and later Chair of the Bronchoalveolar Lavage Group. From 2002– 2005, he was Head of the Clinical Assembly and a member of the Executive Committee of the ERS and, in 2006, he was Chairman of the ERS Congress in Munich (Germany). Since 1990 he has served on the Editorial Board of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ), from 1994–1999 as the Chief Editor. He was Editor of the German journal Pneumologie from 2001– 2005, has co-edited the ERS Monograph on Sarcoidosis, and is currently on the board of Sarcoidosis, Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, among others. He is the recipient of several honours and awards, including the Sarcoidosis Research Prize presented by Copyright ©ERS 2016. Print ISBN: 978-1-84984-067-5. Online ISBN: 978-1-84984-068-2. Print ISSN: 2312-508X. Online ISSN: 2312-5098. ERS Monogr 2016 71: vii–ix. DOI: 10.1183/2312508X.10003116 vii