John Linnell

John is a COPD Patient diagnosed in 2005. His career was being a retail District Manager and troubleshooter and then as a Marketing Director. He left the workforce in 2011. After engaging in an internet film project and being asked to share his story at a pharmaceutical conference, John decided 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 and is Captain for the COPD Foundation for the State of Wisconsin. He also serves on the Executive Board of Directors for EFFORTS (an international support group for the COPD community) as well as on the Governing Board for the COPD PPRN (Patient-Powered Research Network) for PCORI. John also for 6 years, sat as a Consumer Reviewer for CDMRP (Congressional Directed Medical Research Programs) for the Department of Defense. His involvement in social media and interacting with other patients and caregivers led to a position of Research Associate with the Breathe Chicago Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago-Illinois School of Medicine. John has also been a Co-investigator for a 3-year PCORI-funded study at Johns Hopkins: Impact of a Peer Support Program Amongst COPD Patients and Their Caregivers. John was also elected to the Board of Directors of Right2Breathe, a nonprofit emphasizing early diagnosis and patient education.

In addition, John is a frequent speaker and/or panel member at numerous national conferences dealing with both respiratory issues as well as advising digital health start-up enterprises as the Patient Advisor.