Dr Ricardo José

Dr Ricardo José gained his undergraduate degree in Medicine (MDChB) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He holds a Diploma in Anaesthetics from the Colleges of medicine of South Africa, Postgraduate Certificate in Public Health from the University of Manchester, and PhD in Respiratory Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity from University College London (UCL). He then moved to London to specialise in both respiratory medicine and general internal medicine as an academic clinic fellow and clinical lecturer at UCL endoscopic bronchial ultrasound and thoracic ultrasound.

Prior to Dr José’s role as a specialist in respiratory infection at Royal Brompton Hospital, he worked as an honorary consultant at University College London Hospital in respiratory infection and set up a dedicated clinic for the management of respiratory disease and symptoms in patients with cancer.

Dr José is an elected member of the British Thoracic Society Council, member of the BTS Standards of Care Committee, past member of the BTS Science and Research Committee, and member of deputy clinical immunologist of the North West London sub-regional immunoglobulin assessment panel.

Dr José is a respiratory specialist with expertise in acute and chronic respiratory infections and respiratory disease associated with cancer. He has a special interest in respiratory disease in immunocompromised individuals and has a clinic dedicated to the management of respiratory infection and respiratory disease in patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiency alongside Dr Kelleher’s immunology clinic offering immunoglobulin replacement therapy.

Dr José sees patients with immunodeficiency secondary to cancer (e.g. leukaemia and lymphoma), therapies for cancer (e.g. systemic and targeted chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, haematopoietic stem cell transplantation), and therapies for inflammatory disease (e.g. biological therapies and other immunosuppressant drugs).

Areas of expertise include:

• Bronchiectasis
• Severe, persistent, unusual, or recurrent respiratory infections
• Primary and secondary immunodeficiency
• Primary ciliary dyskinesia
• Fungal lung infection
• Airway disease due to fungal sensitisation (e.g. allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis)
• Non-tuberculous mycobacteria
• Latent tuberculosis
• Pneumonia
• Pulmonary complications of cancer (solid organ and haematological malignancy) and cancer therapy

Dr José started his training in respiratory medicine in 2009 as an academic clinical fellow and in 2013 he was awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship for research into lung infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae. This was predominately the role of proteinase activated receptor 1 that has a key role in the interplay between coagulation activation and inflammation. This research was performed at UCL and led to a PhD, several publications, conference presentations and awards. He continued his research as a clinical lecturer investigating de novo bronchiectasis in haematological malignancies. He is a Honorary Associate Professor at UCL Respiratory and continues his research interest in host susceptibility and pathogenesis of respiratory infections.

In addition, Dr José is an associate editor of the journal of clinical case reports and the Annals of Research Hospitals. He is regularly asked to review manuscripts for the European Respiratory Journal and Thorax. He also receives requests to peer review for other journals including Nature, Immunity, Mucosal Immunology, Journal of Critical Care, Cancer Supportive care, Annals of Thoracic Medicine, Allergy and Therapy, BMC Pulmonary Medicine, PLOS one, and journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Dr Ricardo José has been published frequently including:

• Targeting coagulation activation in severe COVID-19 pneumonia: lessons from bacterial pneumonia and sepsis
• COVID-19 cytokine storm: the interplay between inflammation and coagulation
• Opportunistic bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the lung

He has also contributed a chapter named “Pulmonary Complications of Lung Cancer Therapies” in the upcoming Elsevier second edition of the Encyclopedia of Respiratory Medicine. 

has been published frequently including:

• Targeting coagulation activation in severe COVID-19 pneumonia: lessons from bacterial pneumonia and sepsis
• COVID-19 cytokine storm: the interplay between inflammation and coagulation
• Opportunistic bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the lung

Additionally, Dr José contributed a chapter named “Pulmonary Complications of Lung Cancer Therapies” in the upcoming Elsevier second edition of the Encyclopedia of Respiratory Medicine. 

Dr José has extensive experience of teaching and examining undergraduate and postgraduate students. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and past clinical lead of the prestigious UCL MBPhD programme. In addition, he is invited to teach at conferences and courses including at the Royal Society of Medicine. As an Honorary Associate Professor at UCL he continues to teach 1^st year medical students on the UCL breathing and circulation module.

Dr José has authored several book chapters on respiratory infections and pulmonary complications of cancer therapy. He is also a section editor for the 2^nd edition of the Encyclopaedia of Respiratory Medicine.