JOHN LINNELLJohn was diagnosed with COPD in 2005. His career was as a retail District Manager then as a Marketing Director. He left the workforce in 2011. After engaging in an educational internet video on COPD and sharing his story at conferences, John realized his efforts would be best spent doing advocacy work for the COPD community. John is a member of the Board of Directors for the US COPD Coalition, the Executive Board of Directors for EFFORTS, and on the Governing Board for the COPD Foundation PPRN (Patient Powered Research Network). He was recently elected to the Board of Directors for Right2Breathe, a non-profit. John also sits as a Patient/Consumer Reviewer for Peer Review Medical Research Programs for the Department of Defense for several years. John has also been a Co-investigator for a 3 year PCORI funded study at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: “Impact of a Peer Support Program Amongst COPD Patients and Their Caregivers”.John consults with several pharma companies to promote the "patient-perspective". He is a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences including ATS, AARC, CHEST, AND GOLD. He also has been a co-author on numerous published articles. His key message from the patient community to research institution, pharma, and industry is: "If It's Without Us, It's Not About Us!"