European Respiratory Monograph Respiratory Diseases in Women Edited by S. Buist is currently Professor of Medicine and until recently was Head of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Oregon Health and Sciences University (OR, USA). She also holds the rank of Professor in the Depts of Physiology and Pharmacology and Public Health and Preventive Medicine. She has been a member of numerous federal and international advisory groups. Her research interests are primarily in the areas of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with particular emphasis on the epidemiology and management of these diseases, and the overlap between them. She has been the principal investigator for the Portland Center of the US Lung Health Studies I, II, and III. She is presently engaged in health services and outcome research as an investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland (OR, USA). C.E. Mapp is currently Associate Professor of Occupational Medicine at the University of Ferrara Medical School, Italy. She won a fellowship from the European Community and from the American Association of University Women to perform her research projects. She is a past mem- ber of the Respiratory Medicine Editorial Board and is a current member of the Editorial Board of the European Respiratory Journal. Her research interests are primarily in the areas of asthma and COPD, with particular emphasis on in vitro and in vivo experimental models of asthma, on the interactions between host and environmental factors for the development of sensitisation and asthma, and on the mechanisms of both these diseases. She is an active member of several expert panels on asthma and COPD (Task Force of the American Thoracic Society and of the European Respiratory Society). S. Buist C.E. Mapp Mono 25 CV (title page).qxd 22/04/2003 09:02 Page 1