Personal Profile
Dr Spears graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2000. Following completion of his house jobs he spent several years working in academic centres in England, initially the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham, followed by the Royal Brompton Hospital Respiratory Unit in London.
On returning to Glasgow Dr Spears completed a PhD under the tutelage of Professor Neil C Thomson. This fruitful period led to a Clinical Lecturer post at the University of Glasgow, where he undertook further research into the corticosteroid insensitive inflammatory processes at play in asthma and COPD and contributed to undergraduate and post graduate teaching programmes. During this period he also gained experience in the management of severe Bronchiectasis through prolonged attachments to the West of Scotland Cystic Fibrosis service. He also has extensive experience in the assessment of sleep issues as a result of working in several units with busy sleep services.
Since his appointment as a Consultant Respiratory Physician at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in 2014 he has assumed the roles of lead clinician for Difficult Asthma and Interstitial Lung disease. Dr Spears also acts as his unit’s lead for Morbidity and Mortality review and supervises senior medical students and medical trainees. He continues to publish original articles and contributes to several national and international clinical trials and the work of the British Thoracic Society.
Given the prevalence of allergic disease in severe asthma, and his desire to provide holistic care, Dr Spears’ undertook an MSc in Allergy via Imperial College, London. This programme provided world class training in the detection and investigation of allergic nasal and airway diseases, food allergy and perceived antibiotic allergy and their treatments including immunotherapy. As a result he is confident in the assessment and treatment of adults with allergy.
