Cass Byrnes

Catherine Ann Byrnes is a New Zealand academic paediatrician, and is a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in respiratory disease in children, including cystic fibrosis and infectious diseases.

Academic career

Byrnes completed a PhD titled Non-invasive method of measuring airway inflammation: exhaled nitric oxide at the University of Auckland. Byrnes then joined the faculty of the University of Auckland, rising to full professor. Byrnes is the chair of the New Zealand Respiratory and Sleep Clinical Network, and a member of the Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand Clinical Advisory Panel.

Byrnes's research focuses on respiratory diseases in children, including infectious diseases such as RSV, influenza and COVID-19, and conditions such as cystic fibrosis. Byrnes and her colleagues invented a game, called BreatheHero, to help children undergoing physiotherapy for cystic fibrosis complete their daily exercises. She also supervised research on treatment experiences for children with bronchiectasis, which normally required a two week stay in hospital for intravenous antibiotics. The research team found that shortening the stay in hospital to one week, followed by oral antibiotics at home, had the same treatment outcomes but provided a much better experience for patients and their families. Byrnes was part of a two-year multi-disciplinary collaboration between ESR and the University of Auckland aimed at reducing the spread of infectious respiratory viruses, the Southern Hemisphere Influenza and Vaccine Effectiveness Research and Surveillance V (SHIVERS-V).

Selected works