Dr Ian Balfour-Lynn

Dr Ian Balfour-Lynn is a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals.

Dr Balfour-Lynn graduated from University College London and Westminster Hospital Medical School then continued his training in general paediatrics at Westminster Children’s Hospital (now part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital), Northwick Park Hospital, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton.

During his time in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children he worked in many departments and continued his specialist training in infection and immunology and heart-lung transplant, respiratory medicine and intensive care. In 1994, Dr Balfour-Lynn completed his research for his MD thesis entitled ‘Host Defence Factors in Wheezy Infants with Respiratory Infections’. He focused on this research on a full-time basis for two years.

Dr Ian Balfour-Lynn specialises in all aspects of paediatric respiratory medicine and performs all complex investigations including flexible bronchoscopy as a diagnostic tool. He is a specialist in severe infant wheezing, severe asthma, cystic fibrosis and recurrent chest infections.

Alongside his role as a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine, Dr Balfour-Lynn is also the co-director of children’s services at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals. Dr Balfour-Lynn is on the NHS specialist register for paediatrics and is fully accredited in paediatric respiratory medicine with a special interest in respiratory disease.

Dr Ian Balfour-Lynn is actively involved in research and his current projects include fitness-to-fly testing in children with congenital heart disease, the detection of pulmonary hypertension in children with cystic fibrosis, audit of CF new-born screening in the pan-Thames area and early lung disease in new-born screened infants with cystic fibrosis.

Dr Balfour-Lynn is on the editorial board for a specialist journal published in the US, Pediatric Pulmonology. He is an associate editor for the quarterly journal, Paediatric Respiratory Reviews and has written numerous peer reviewed papers, book chapters, national guidelines and reviews on his specialist subjects.

Dr Balfour-Lynn organises the National Grid Training of paediatric respiratory medicine in London as well as running paediatric bronchoscopy courses at Royal Brompton Hospital every two years. He has also taught sessions on flexible bronchoscopy and how-to lavage and biopsy as part of the Royal Brompton Hospital’s bronchoscopy course held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2009 and at Ain Shams University, Cairo in 2004. Dr Ian Balfour-Lynn is a regular expert speaker at medical conferences in both nationally and internationally.