EFA President Breda Flood was welcomed as a new Council member of the European Lung Foundation (ELF) in Geneva on 2 February this month, and participated in the Council meeting held on the same day. Several important topics were discussed at the meeting, including how the European Respiratory Society Roadmap - which outlines recommendations for the future of respiratory medicine - will guide ELF's work plan over the next 2-3 years. Also discussed were possible means of training patients to make use of the European Patient Ambassador Programme, which will be developed to enable them and lay representatives from across Europe to gain skills to facilitate their interactions with professionals, politicians and the media, in particular ERS guidelines. In addition to these subjects, ELF's plans for a campaign surrounding World Spirometry Day 2012 were outlined, as were plans for the 2012 ELF symposium