Dr Jane Bourke is Associate Professor in Pharmacology at Monash University, where she leads the Respiratory Pharmacology Group. Her research focuses on identifying improved therapeutic strategies in chronic lung diseases. She has unique expertise in Australia with an innovative technique in which changes in intrapulmonary airway and artery lumen area can be visualized in situ in lung slices. With numerous local and international collaborators, she has applied this approach in preclinical studies in animal models of asthma, COPD, infection, pulmonary hypertension and bronchopulmonary dysplasia to study disease mechanisms and test novel therapeutic interventions. More recently, she has commenced studies using human tissues to facilitate clinical translation.

Jane has published her research in specialist respiratory and pharmacology journals (Thorax, European Respiratory Journal, American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, American Journal of Physiology (Lung), Respiratory Research, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, British Journal of Pharmacology) as well as multidisciplinary journals (Nature Communications, Clinical Science, Scientific Reports). She regularly reviews manuscripts and is currently an Editorial Board Member for Frontiers in Physiology and Scientific Reports.

Jane has completed several terms as an elected member of the Board of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), where she chaired the Education and Research Subcommittee and Conference Committee. She was also President of the Asia Pacific Society of Respirology Congress, held in Sydney in 2017. Jane is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Respiratory Structure and Function Assembly of the American Thoracic Society (ATS). She was made a Fellow of TSANZ in 2019 and Fellow of ATS in 2020 in recognitions of her contributions to respiratory research.