Asthma Awareness: Fighting Asthma in 2021 Thought LeadersDr. Samantha WalkerDirector of Research & InnovationAsthma UK and the British Lung Foundation In light of World Asthma Day, News-Medical interviewed Dr. Samantha Walker from Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation about some of the common misconceptions surrounding asthma. Please could you introduce yourself and tell us about your expertise in asthma? My name is Samantha Walker. I am Director of Research & Innovation at Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, based in London. I trained as a nurse in the late ‘80s and then worked as a research nurse at the world-leading Allergy & Clinical Immunology Department at the National Heart & Lung Institute (NHLI), based at Imperial College London, assisting in and eventually running research studies testing new asthma and allergy treatments.