Professional background

Helen Garthwaite is a consultant in respiratory and general medicine at UCLH with additional sessions at the Royal Free Hospital.

Helen studied Medicine at Imperial College School of Medicine. She went on to complete her respiratory training as a North West trainnee with posts at the Royal Brompton, Imperial Healthcare and the Royal Free before completing a clinical fellowship at UCL under the supervision of her mentor Professor Joanna Porter. During this time Helen completed a research project focused on systemic sclerosis associated ILD and built a strong relationship with the national scleroderma centre at the Royal Free where she continues to do clinical sessions.

She was made a consultant working across both hospitals in 2018 and continues to develop her interest in all interstitial lung disease but with a particular focus on connective tissue disease. She has a passion for service development and improving the patient experience, as well as looking outwards to establish relationships with other hospitals in the network and increase patient access to clinical trials and experimental therapies.

Research interests

  • Service improvement and patient experience
  • Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
  • Connective tissue disease associated interstitial lung disease
  • Hypersensitivitiy pneumonitis
  • Cystic lung diseases

Publications

Obh D, Garthwaite HS, Heightman M, Gooptu B (2017) Management of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. In “Clinical Handbook of Interstitial Lung Disease”. Editor Thillai M. CRC press.

Mikolasch TA, Garthwaite HS, Porter JCP (2016) Update in diagnosis and management of interstitial lung disease, Clin Med (Lond). Apr 17; 17 (2): pp146-53.

Garthwaite HS, Porter JC (2016) Biologic Treatments for Pulmonary Involvement in Rheumatic Disease. In “Biologics in Rheumatology; New Developments, Clinical Uses and Health Implications”. Editor; Ciurtin C, Isenberg DA. 1st pp171-182. Nova Science Publishers, New York 2016.

Garthwaite HS, Maher TM (2012) The Diagnosis and Staging of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Clinical Pulmonary Medicine. Nov; 19(6): pp. 254-261.

Review of the Management of Interstitial Lung Disease Associated Cough and Proposed Treatment Algorithm. American Thoracic Society Meeting 2017 (poster presentation).

A Retrospective Review of Patients with Sarcoidosis Attending a Tertiary Referral Centre; Prevalence of Cardiac Involvement and Comment on Management Approach. American Thoracic Society Meeting 2017 (poster presentation).

A Prospective Cohort Study to Assess the Use of Flurodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) in Assessing Treatment Response in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis associated ILD. American Thoracic Society Meeting 2017 (poster presentation).

A Prospective Cohort Study to Measure in-vivo Changes in Lung Glucose Metabolism in Patients with SScl-ILD using FDG-PET. Winter British Thoracic Society Meeting 2016 (poster and spoken presentation).

Current Interstitial Lung Disease Specialist MDT Provision across the UK. Winter British Thoracic Society Meeting 2016 (poster presentation)