Dr Richard Hewitt

Sub-specialties: Interstitial Lung Diseases, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis, Connective Tissue Disease - Associated Lung Disease, Sarcoidosis, Post-COVID Lung Abnormalities, Respiratory Medicine, Cough, Breathlessness.

Overview

02036532006

Overview

Dr Richard Hewitt is a consultant respiratory physician here at OneWelbeck and at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He is a specialist in interstitial lung disease (ILD), a group of conditions that can cause inflammation and scarring (fibrosis) of the lung. He is also experienced in managing a wide range of general respiratory conditions.

About Dr Richard Hewitt

Dr Richard Hewitt is a consultant respiratory physician who specialises in interstitial lung disease (ILD), a large group of conditions which can cause inflammation and scarring (fibrosis) in the lung. He is also experienced in managing a wide range of general respiratory conditions. His NHS practice is at the Royal Brompton Hospital, a world-leading, specialist heart and lung hospital, where he is a member of the interstitial lung disease unit, the largest of its kind in Europe.

Dr Hewitt qualified with distinctions at Imperial College London in 2011 and achieved first-class honours in an intercalated BSc in respiratory sciences. He undertook postgraduate general medical training in London attaining MRCP(UK) in 2014. He trained in respiratory medicine at St Mary’s Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Dr Hewitt gained extensive research experience through NIHR academic clinical fellowship and clinical lectureship awards and holds a postgraduate certificate in genomics medicine. In 2017 he was awarded a prestigious Imperial College Clinician-Investigator Scholarship and went on to complete a PhD in the National Heart and Lung Institute. His doctoral research focused on the role of airway epithelial cells and immune cells in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

He is now an adjunct senior lecturer at King’s College London where he is developing a research programme investigating airway immune changes in early fibrosing lung disease including those with interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) detected through computed tomography (CT) screening programmes.

Through research into early disease mechanisms, he is working towards developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to treat pulmonary fibrosis. In addition to his clinical work, he provides clinical and educational supervision to respiratory specialist trainees and internal medicine trainees at Royal Brompton Hospital. He is a member of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Lung Disease Registry Steering Group.

Areas of Expertise

He treats various conditions such as the following:

Interstitial lung diseases (ILD)
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis
Connective tissue disease associated lung disease
Cryptogenic organising pneumonia (COP)
Sarcoidosis
Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE)
Smoking - related ILD
Post-COVID lung disease
Interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA)
General respiratory medicine
Breathlessness
Cough

Additional Information

Clinical Posts:

Consultant Respiratory Physician at Royal Brompton Hospital

Memberships:

British Thoracic Society
European Respiratory Society
Royal College of Physicians

Research Highlights

Dr Hewitt has published basic, translational and clinical research articles in the field of pulmonary fibrosis and other areas of respiratory medicine. He has also co-authored a book chapter on the diagnosis and management of ILD.

Selected publications:

Hewitt RJ, Puttur F, Gaboriau DCA, Fercoq F, Fresquet M, Traves WJ, Yates LL, Walker SA, Molyneaux PL, Kemp SV, Nicholson AG, Rice A, Lennon R, Carlin LM, Byrne AJ, Maher TM, Lloyd CM. Lung extracellular matrix modulates KRT5+ basal cell activity in pulmonary fibrosis. Nat Commun. 2023 Sep 27;14(1):6039. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41621-y. PMID: 37758700
PMCID: PMC10533905.
Oldham JM, Johnson KW, Albers GJ, Calamita E, Mah J, Ghai P, Hewitt RJ, Maher TM, Molyneaux PL, Huang M, Byrne AJ. Airway soluble CSF1R predicts progression in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. ERJ Open Res. 2023 Jul 17;9(4):00690-2022. doi: 10.1183/23120541.00690-2022. PMID: 37465557
PMCID: PMC10350676.
Hewitt RJ, Bartlett EC, Ganatra R, Butt H, Kouranos V, Chua F, Kokosi M, Molyneaux PL, Desai SR, Wells AU, Jenkins RG, Renzoni EA, Kemp SV, Devaraj A, George PM. Lung cancer screening provides an opportunity for early diagnosis and treatment of interstitial lung disease. Thorax. 2022 Nov;77(11):1149-1151. doi: 10.1136/thorax-2022-219068. Epub 2022 Aug 8. PMID: 35940878.
McErlean P, Bell CG, Hewitt RJ, Busharat Z, Ogger PP, Ghai P, Albers GJ, Calamita E, Kingston S, Molyneaux PL, Beck S, Lloyd CM, Maher TM, Byrne AJ. DNA Methylome Alterations are Associated with Airway Macrophage Differentiation and Phenotype During Lung Fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Jul 19. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202101-0004OC
Hewitt RJ, Lloyd CM. Regulation of immune responses by the airway epithelial cell landscape. Nat Rev Immunol. 2021 Jan 13:1-16. doi: 10.1038/s41577-020-00477-9. Invernizzi R, Wu BG, Barnett J, Ghai P, Kingston S, Hewitt RJ, Feary J, Li Y, Chua F, Wu Z, Wells AU, Renzoni EA, Nicholson AG, Rice A, Devaraj A, Segal LN, Byrne AJ, Maher TM, Lloyd CM, Molyneaux PL.
The Respiratory Microbiome in Chronic Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis is Distinct from that of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Jul 21. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202002-0460OC.
Hewitt RJ, Maher TM. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: New and Emerging Treatment Options. Drugs Ageing. 2019
36(6):485-492

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