Surinder Birring is Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Consultant Respiratory Physician at King's College Hospital, London (specialist clinics in ILD, Cough and Sarcoidosis). His research focuses on the assessment and treatment of cough and the development of patient reported outcome measures.

As a British Lung Foundation Fellow in 2001, he studied the cellular mechanisms of unexplained cough and continued his work as a Senior Fellow in Sydney in 2006. He has published over 300 papers, reviews and book chapters and is author of American, British and European Cough clinical guidelines.

He chairs the Scientific Committee of the European NeuroCough registry. He has been the chief investigator of numerous multi-centre clinical trials. His team developed the widely used quality of life questionnaires, Leicester Cough Questionnaire, King's Brief Interstitial Lung Disease (KBILD), King's Sarcoidosis Questionnaires (KSQ) and recently Bronchiectasis Health Questionnaire (BHQ) and Cough Hypersensitivity Questionnaire (CHQ).

Professor Birring is also co-developer of the Leicester Cough Monitor device. He was elected Fellow of the European Respiratory Society in 2023.