A major international honour for paediatric lung medicine: Prof. Dr. Matthias Griese, Head of Paediatric Pneumology at the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital has received the European Respiratory Society's 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award in Paediatrics.
He is the laureate in the ERS paediatrics category this year, recognised for "a lifetime of excellence in the field of paediatrics.” The award highlights a career spent improving diagnosis, treatment, and outlook for children with rare and severe respiratory disease.
From cystic fibrosis to the full spectrum of rare lung disease
Under Prof. Griese's leadership, the hospital's paediatric pneumology department grew well beyond its original cystic fibrosis focus into a comprehensive referral centre for children with rare respiratory conditions from across Europe. In 2012, he founded chILD-EU, an international registry and biobank for childhood interstitial lung diseases that connects clinical data with biological samples - helping clinicians make more informed treatment decisions for children whose conditions are too rare for standard guidelines.
Decoding the lung's molecular machinery
A central theme of his research team is the pulmonary surfactant system, the molecular machinery that keeps lungs functioning. He developed diagnostic tools - including surfactant protein analysis from bronchoalveolar lavage and serum GM-CSF autoantibody testing - that have contributed to specialised diagnostics for rare lung disease.
Where evidence for treating rare paediatric lung disease was once scarce, Prof. Griese and his team helped build it. He launched the first randomised controlled trial for childhood interstitial lung disease, investigating hydroxychloroquine, and contributed to subsequent landmark studies, including the first paediatric trial of the antifibrotic drug nintedanib.
Shaping the next generation and the field itself
More than 150 doctoral candidates and junior researchers have been guided by his mentorship, and he has served on the boards of the Society for Paediatric Pneumology and the German Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, leads ERS Task Force 2024-17, advises the European Medicines Agency on orphan drug designations, and holds a principal investigator position at the German Centre for Lung Research (DZL).
The entire team at the DZL, the CCRC and the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital congratulates Prof. Griese and his team on this remarkable honour. His dedication has brought better diagnosis, new treatment options, and hope to children with the rarest lung diseases - in Munich, across Europe, and beyond.
Learn more about Prof. Griese's research:
Lancet Respiratory Medicine: New insights from the chILD Registry