Dr Samantha Sonnappa

Dr Samatha Sonnappa is a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital.

She completed her medical education in India, including training in general paediatrics, neonatology, and paediatric respiratory medicine. Soon after, she moved to the UK and completed her specialist paediatric respiratory medicine training at Great Ormond Street Hospital. For her PhD thesis at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH), she investigated sensitive measures of lung function in preschool children with frequent wheezing.

Dr Sonnappa was appointed as a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine and a fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2005.

Dr Samatha Sonnappa has expertise in diagnosing and treating children with:

• asthma
• exercise-induced breathlessness
• wheeze
• chronic cough
• congenital lung abnormalities
• chest infections.

She has a special interest in helping young athletes with exercise-induced respiratory symptoms and has a systematic process for the assessment and treatment of athletes under 16 years of age.

Dr Samatha Sonnappa’s research interests are in preschool wheeze, asthma, chest infections and exercise-induced respiratory symptoms and respiratory symptoms associated with Long COVID.

Dr Samatha Sonnappa has written several papers, book chapters, national guidelines and invited reviews on her specialist interests.