ELF Award 2011

Emeritus Professor Elizabeth Juniper

The ELF 2011 Award was presented to Elizabeth Juniper in recognition of her work to promote quality of life in asthma care and clinical research.

 

Liz spent her early career in exercise physiology and control of breathing research, before moving on to asthma and rhinitis research and clinical trials. In 1989, she was given a faculty appointment in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University in Canada, and began developing and validating questionnaires to measure  subjective health status.

She has developed and validated disease-specific health-related quality of life tools for adults and children with asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis. These questionnaires are used worldwide both in clinical trials and clinical practice. Her Asthma Control Questionnaire is advocated for use in clinical practice by international guidelines.

Doctors are able to use these valuable tools to quickly and accurately identify the problems and limitations people with asthma face every day.

The questionnaire helps doctors decide on the best treatment and also enables patients to learn more about the features of asthma that are important to control their condition. Doctors and patients can then decide together on the optimum treatment to meet both their goals.

Visit Liz Juniper's website for a full list of the health-related quality of life questionnaires she has developed.

On receiving the award, Liz said:

"I am bowled over by the fact that I have received this award and been recognised by my peers– it is truly an honour. To have the importance of quality of life measurement acknowledged in this way is beyond my wildest dreams. The questionnaires can be a great asset for patients as they will become involved in the decision-making process concerning their treatment. By making a shared decision, this will hopefully allow people to feel happier about the treatment they are given and feel confident about taking their medication regularly."