Maria Koulopoulou

Maria is an experienced clinical-academic respiratory physiotherapist with an interest in pulmonary rehabilitation and management of chronic respiratory conditions; she has a particular interest in interstitial lung diseases, and she is keen in promoting and advocating for a tailored-based, patient focused ILD service model pathway, including pulmonary rehabilitation and education for patients with ILD diagnosis.

Maria is the clinical lead of the pulmonary rehabilitation service at King’s College Hospital – a role, which inspired her to value a great deal specialist clinical leadership skills, such as service effectiveness, patient-focused care, and quality improvement strategies. Maria is a confident clinical lead with a wealth of knowledge, experience and skills in directing, shaping and developing a service both from a clinical and strategic planning perspective. She is keen is utilising these skills and knowledge to contribute towards service and quality improvement implementations that can benefit the ILD treatment pathway.  Having led the King’s PR service during the Covid-19 pandemic, she has appreciated the value of technology in supporting clinical services; a careful assessment and evaluation framework is required to judge the clinical and cost effectiveness value of any technological implementation vs or in addition to traditional service pathways.

Maria, has successfully completed Master- level modules at UCL in the field of respiratory and cardiovascular medicine, and in 2015 she completed an MSc by research course at St George’s university of London (an RCT investigating the effects of inspiratory muscle training in ILD). She is an active member of the ERS, ILD-N and BTS; she is a peer reviewer in respiratory journals in her field of expertise, and has presented her work in national and international conferences.