Steering Committee
Professor Iain McInnes
Vice Principal and Head of College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences (MVLS)
University of Glasgow, UK
Professor Iain McInnes is the Vice Principal and Head of College of MVLS in the University of Glasgow, UK. He also leads the trans-national society for rheumatology across Europe.
Professor McInnes studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and graduated with honours in 1989 before training in internal medicine and rheumatology. He completed his membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 1992 and became a fellow (FRCP) in 2003. He completed his PhD and post-doctoral studies via fellowships from the Wellcome Trust, the Arthritis Research Campaign (ARC, UK) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) Fogarty Fellowship Programme in both Glasgow and Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
He has extensive experience in leading multicentre programmes, nationally and internationally. Professor McInnes is also Director of the Scottish MRC Clinical Pharmacology and Pathology Clinical PhD Training Programme; Chief Investigator for the Scottish Early RA Cohort (SERA) and the related SMS-IC biomarker discovery programme (PROMISERA); and Chief Investigator of numerous global phase II and III clinical trials of novel immune therapies
His major interest is in the biology of inflammatory synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and septic arthritis. He operates on a translational science programme in which state of the art cellular and molecular biology techniques are applied to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the perpetuation of a range of chronic diseases seeking to build precision medicine approaches and new therapeutics thereafter. He received the Sir James Black Prize Medal, a prestigious award in medicine in 2016 by the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his outstanding contribution to the field of immunology. In 2019, Professor McInnes was awarded a CBE for his services to Medicine.
Professor Rieke Alten
Head of Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology
Schlosspark-Klinik, University Medicine Berlin, Germany
Dr Rieke Alten is head of the department of internal Medicine, Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology, Osteology at Schlosspark-Klinik at University Medicine Berlin, where she also serves as the director of the Rheumatology Research Centre. She is a member of the Global Alliance for Patient Access and OMERACT Steering Committee of the Flare in Rheumatoid Arthritis Group. Dr Alten has served as a board member on many occasions for; German Medical Association, the institute for approval of drugs for the German Ministry of Health, “Kaiser-Friedrich-Stiftung” for postgraduate education in Germany and board member of the German Society of Rheumatology.
Professor Xenofon Baraliakos
Medical Director, Professor for Rheumatology
Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet Herne, Ruhr-University
Xenofon Baraliakos is a Professor for Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at the Ruhr-University in Bochum, and a senior consultant and scientific coordinator of the rheumatology centre Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet in Herne, Germany.
Prof. Baraliakos is the current President of ASAS (Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society). He was the former Chair of the EULAR standing committee for musculoskeletal imaging, and member of the EULAR Executive Committee.
Prof. Baraliakos has won several awards including the Research Award of the European Workshop on Rheumatology Research (EWRR), the EULAR Young Investigator Award, the German patient’s AS Society Award and Excellence in Clinical Research from the European Society for Clinical Investigations.
Moreover, he holds memberships of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) and the German Society of Rheumatology.
His research interests include clinical and academic research in the field of spondyloarthritis, with special emphasis on imaging outcomes and treatment of the disease.
Doctor Frank Behrens
Medical director
Goethe-University
Frank Behrens is Professor of trans. Rheumatology, Immunology and Inflammation Medicine at Goethe-University and Deputy Director of Fraunhofer Institute for translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Frankfurt, Germany
Initially studying biology at Johannes Gutenberg University Doctor Behrens progressed then to study medicine, obtaining his MD from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. Here he would later receive his training in internal medicine and rheumatology. Having built up the functional area of the clinical rheumatology research at Goethe University Medical Centre he remains in the function of a manager here as well as co-ordinator for the rheumatology division. He is co-founder of the centre for innovative diagnostics and therapy in rheumatology/Immunotherapy (CIRI) at the Goethe University. He is co-responsible for one of the largest investigator-initiated studies in rheumatology in Germany and initiator of NESTRA, the German study network.
Dr Behrens has played a key role in over 150 publications chiefly in rheumatological diseases and clinical trials. His major research interests include regulatory T-Cells and clinical trials applied to immunopharmacology.
Professor Johannes Bijlsma
Professor and Head of the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology
University Medical Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Professor Bijlsma is the past President of EULAR (2017-2019), and a Professor of Rheumatology at the University Medical Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
He acquired his Medical degree and PhD from the University of Utrecht and has been a Professor of Rheumatology since 1990. Professor Bijlsma was the Chairman of The EULAR Standing Committee on Education and Training, EULAR Educational Officer and has been EULAR Treasurer. He has also held a variety of roles from 1992-2008 at the Dutch Society for Rheumatology, including Scientific Secretary, President and Chairman Consilium. He is chairman of the Advisory Board of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases and is on the editorial board of Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology and Clinical Rheumatology.
Professor Bijlsma researches and specialises in immune aspects of rheumatic diseases and Osteoarthritis. He has authored and co-authored over 800 articles published in peer-reviewed international journals, has contributed chapters in a number of textbooks, and has edited and co-edited several books in the field of Rheumatology, including the EULAR Textbooks.
Professor Leonard Calabrese
Director & Professor of Medicine,
RJ Fasenmyer Center for Clinical Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, USA
Leonard Calabrese is a Professor of Medicine, Vice Chair of the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases and the Co-director of the Centre for Vasculitis Care and Research. He also serves as Director of the RJ Fasenmyer Centre for Clinical Immunology at the Cleveland Clinic. He also holds appointments in the Department of Infectious Diseases and the Wellness Institute.
He is a graduate of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. Completed his internal medicine training at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, followed by a fellowship in rheumatic and immunologic disease. Professor Calabrese has received numerous awards, including honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and Alma College and the Leonard Tow Humanitarianism in Medicine award from the Arnold P Goldman MD Foundation.
He has particular interest in vascular inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, primary and secondary immunodeficiency states and the intersection of infections and autoimmunity. Over the course of his academic research career, Professor Calabrese has authored over 400 publications including book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles.
Associate Professor Laura Coates
Clinician scientist and senior clinical research
Oxford Psoriatic Arthritis Centre
Laura Coates is a NIHR clinician scientist and senior clinical research fellow at the Oxford Psoriatic Arthritis Centre. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) and the British PsA Consortium (BritPACT).
Dr Coates completed her rheumatology training and PhD at the University of Leeds within the Leeds Institute of Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Medicine. She later moved to Oxford in 2017 as an NIHR Clinician Scientist to research optimal therapeutic strategies for patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
She has been involved as either the primary author or co-author of over 400 publications, chiefly in the areas of rheumatology and Psoriatic arthritis. At her practice in Oxford Dr Coates aims to establish a new psoriatic arthritis service with the aim of exploring if a more practical version of ‘treat to target’ approach can be run successfully in a routine NHS Clinic. This includes testing different treatments to examine whether treatment may be personalised to the patient and allow some patients to avoid the side effects associated with stronger arthritis medication.
Professor Maurizio Cutolo
Professor of Medicine and Rheumatology, Director of the Research Laboratory and Academic Unit of Clinical Rheumatology, Director of the Postgraduate School of Rheumatology,
University of Genova, Italy
Professor Maurizio Cutolo received his medical degree from Naples University in 1978. He is President-elect of The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), incoming President of the International League against Rheumatism (ILAR), and was previously the Chairman-elect of the EULAR Standing Committee for Education and Training (ESCET) between 2008 and 2012. Professor Cutolo has been Vice-President of the Italian Society for Rheumatology (SIR) and is a member of the Scientific Board of the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) and the International Society for NeuroImmunoModulation (ISNIM). He was founder (1999) and Chairman, and is currently an Executive Committee member of the Study Group on Neuroendocrine Immunology (NEI), and founder and Chair of the Study Group on Capillaroscopy at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). Professor Cutolo is also founder and Chairman of the EULAR Study Group on Neuroendocrine Immunology of Rheumatic Diseases (NEIRD) (2001–present). Professor Cutolo is an honorary member of the Russian and Hungarian Societies for Rheumatology.
Professor Cutolo is Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, and an editorial board member of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Neuroimmunomodulation, Clinical and Developmental Immunology, Reumatismo, Autoimmunity Review, Journal of Autoimmunity, and Revista Portuguesa de Reumatologia.
Professor Atul A. Deodhar
Medical Director
Oregon Health and Science University
Professor Atul A. Deodhar is Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of Rheumatology Clinics in the Division of Arthritis & Rheumatic Diseases at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology and is a Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the American College of Physicians.
Professor Deodhar completed a fellowship in Rheumatology at Oregon Health & Science University and a research fellowship in Rheumatology at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, United Kingdom. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Royal Cornwall Hospital as well as at Sassoon General Hospital and King Edward Memorial Hospital in Pune, India. He received his medical degree from the University of Pune and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians in London, United Kingdom.
Professor Deodhar has authored three books, more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, and several book chapters and editorials. He is an incoming Editor-in-Chief of Best Practice and Research Clinical Rheumatology, a guest editor of Current Opinion in Rheumatology.
He has been a principal or coinvestigator in more than 100 clinical trials, mostly focused on therapies for ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Professor Hideto Kameda
Professor of Internal Medicine
Toho University
Hideto Kameda is a Professor of Internal Medicine at Toho University. His main areas of expertise are rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis, rheumatoid lung disease, and necrosis. He is on the Board of Directors for the Japanese Society for Clinical Immunology and a member of the Japanese Society of Inflammation and Regenerative Medicine, the Japanese Society of Internal medicine, and the Japan College of Rheumatology.
His clinical research consists of co-authoring 194 peer reviewed articles. In the past 15 years he also served as a joint author on 72 books and other publications.
Professor Philip Mease
Clinical Professor, Director of Rheumatology Research
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Swedish Medical Center
Philip Mease is a Clinical Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Director of Rheumatology Research at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, US. His clinical practice is based at Seattle Rheumatology Associates.
Dr Mease obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees at Stanford University Medical School, and he completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, where he also served as Chief Resident and Fellow in Rheumatology.
As well as conducting clinical trials on emerging therapies for rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and lupus, he also conducts research in disease state metrics and is the Co-chair of three working groups for OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials) on psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, and single-joint assessment. Dr Mease is also a member of the Soluble Biomarker working group.
Dr Mease is a founding organiser and President of GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis), a member of SPARTAN (Spondyloarthritis Research & Treatment Network), and a member of TREG (The Rheumatology Education Group). He has published 18 book chapters and nearly 400 journal articles, and serves as a reviewer for many journals including Arthritis & Rheumatism, Arthritis Care & Research, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, and Journal of Rheumatology. Dr Mease has been the recipient of the Medical Communicator Award of the American College of Rheumatology.
Professor Pierre Miossec
Professor of Clinical Immunology,
Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France
Professor Pierre Miossec received his medical degree from Brest University Hospital in 1983, and then worked as a research fellow at the Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatic Diseases Unit, University of Texas. He received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Marseille in 1987 before going on to work as Associate, and later Professor, of Clinical Immunology at the Claude Bernard University, Lyon.
Professor Miossec’s main research interests include the role of cytokines and T cells in arthritis. He was part of the group to first identify interleukin-1 in the synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. He was also the first to identify the destructive properties of interleukin-17, and to introduce the concept of its production by a new T cell subset. He received the prestigious Carol Nachman prize in 2010 for this contribution. Professor Miossec is an editorial board member of many journals in the field of arthritis.
Professor Peter Nash
Professor, School of Medicine,
Griffith University, Australia
Peter Nash is Professor at the School of Medicine, Griffith University, Queensland, and Director of the Rheumatology Research Unit on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He serves on the Scientific Advisory committee and ASMPOC of the Australian Rheumatology Association, having Chaired the Therapeutics and the Professional Affairs committees of the ARA and served on the Therapeutics Committee of the Australia and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society. In addition, he is a member of the International Steering Committee of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA).
Professor Nash and his group at the Rheumatology Research Unit have been involved with pivotal registration clinical trials for all modern targeted biologic therapies. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers and five book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases and RMD Open and acts as reviewer for many rheumatology journals. His special interests include metabolic bone disease and novel therapeutics.
Professor John O'Shea
Director, NIAMS Intramural Research Program,
NIAMS, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
John J. O'Shea, M.D., graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Lawrence University, and received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Cincinnati. He then served as an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. Dr O'Shea joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1981 for subspecialty training in Allergy and Immunology in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He did additional postdoctoral work in the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Dr O’Shea is board certified in Internal Medicine and Allergy and Immunology.
He moved to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in 1994 as Chief of the Lymphocyte Cell Biology Section of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Branch. He was appointed Chief of the Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch in 2002, and became Scientific Director and Director of the NIAMS Intramural Research Program in 2005.
Dr O'Shea has served on the editorial boards of multiple journals, including: Immunity, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Immunology, and Blood. He has been an invited lecturer at numerous universities and international meetings in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia.
Dr O'Shea has authored more than 225 articles. His area of scientific interest is cytokine signal transduction, dissecting the role of Jaks and Stats family transcription in immunoregulation. Dr O'Shea and his colleagues cloned the tyrosine kinase, JAK3, and demonstrated its role in pathogenesis of severe combined immunodeficiency.
Professor Janet Pope
Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology,
University of Western Ontario Schulich School of Medicine
Professor Pope is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Western Ontario, Schulich School of Medicine, and Division Head in Rheumatology at St Joseph's Health Care in London, Ontario, Canada.
She obtained her Masters degree in Public Health and Fellowship in Rheumatology from Boston University. She then completed a Canadian Arthritis Society Research Fellow in Scleroderma. She is a section editor of Arthritis & Rheumatology, and on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Rheumatology, Nature Reviews Rheumatology, Lancet Rheumatology, RMD Open.
Her research includes epidemiologic studies in scleroderma, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and RA, including outcome measurements, clinical trials and disease manifestations. She has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles, 15 chapters, 600 abstracts, and several Cochrane meta-analysis reviews.
Doctor Sofia Ramiro
Consultant Rheumatologist and Senior Researcher
Leiden University Medical Centre
Dr. Ramiro is a consultant rheumatologist and senior researcher at Zuyderland Medical Centre and Leiden University Medical Centre. Dr. Ramiro also has an appointment at Nova Medical School in Lisbon as a Visiting Professor.
She obtained her PhD on long-term outcomes in ankylosing spondylitis at the University of Amsterdam before going on to complete her specialist rheumatology training at Leiden University Medical Centre.
She has been involved in many EULAR taskforces for the elaboration of recommendations, including on the management of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), and is now a member of the EULAR Scientific Committee, of the Executive Committee of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis international Society (ASAS) and of the Advisory Board of the EULAR School of Rheumatology (ESoR). She is also a co-convenor of the OMERACT Shoulder Working Group.
Dr. Ramiro has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Professor Enrique Soriano
Head of Rheumatology
Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires
Professor Soriano earned his medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine. He then went on to complete his residency training in internal medicine and specialize in rheumatology at Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires and completed a fellowship at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, in Bath UK. Prof. Soriano completed his MS degree in clinical effectiveness at the University of Buenos Aires.
In addition to practicing as a rheumatologist, Prof. Soriano holds numerous teaching positions. He is Associate Professor of Public Health, Director of postgraduate studies and Director of Master's studies in clinical investigation at Instituto Universitario, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires.
Prof. Soriano is a Past- President of PANLAR and of The Argentinean Rheumatology Society. He also stands on the Steering committee of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA).
Prof. Soriano has authored and co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed science articles, with his main areas of interest being disease prevention, the role of ultrasound in prognosis and pathogenesis, and PsA.
Professor Leonie Taams
Director of the Centre for Inflammation Biology and Cancer Immunology, Head of the Department of Inflammation Biology
King's College London, UK
Professor Leonie Taams is the Director of the Centre for Inflammation Biology and Cancer Immunology and Head of the Department of Inflammation Biology at King’s College London. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Clinical and Experimental Immunology, and Director of the King’s FOCIS Centre of Excellence.
She obtained her PhD in Immunology from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. She went on to undertake postdoctoral studies at the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London. Professor Taams was an integral part of the team who were one of the first to isolate and characterise human regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cells. She was awarded a BBSRC New Investigator Grant in 2004 and became Senior Lecturer in Immunology at King’s College London in 2007, Reader in Immunobiology in 2013, and Professor of Immune Regulation & Inflammation in 2015.
Her research focuses on the cellular and molecular immunological mechanisms that regulate inflammation in human health and disease. She is interested in understanding how inflammation is switched on and off, and why this goes awry in chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.
Professor Tsutomu Takeuchi
Professor of Rheumatology
Keio University School of Medicine, Minato, Japan
Professor Tsutomu Takeuchi completed his medical education at Keio University School of Medicine and is currently Professor of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at the same institution. His major research interests are molecular pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune diseases, targeted therapy in systemic autoimmune diseases, and prediction of therapeutic response. Professor Takeuchi has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals including Arthritis & Rheumatism, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, The Journal of Immunology, The Journal of Rheumatology, and The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Professor Takeuchi serves or has served as an editorial board member of the following journals: Rheumatology, Clinical Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology, and Modern Rheumatology. As a reviewer, he is currently serving for Nature Reviews of Immunology, The Lancet, Arthritis & Rheumatism, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Rheumatology, Arthritis Research & Therapy, The Journal of Rheumatology, The Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, APLAR Journal of Rhematology, Modern Rheumatology, The Journal of Immunology, European Journal of Immunology, International Immunology, and The American Journal of Pathology.
Professor Lai-Shan Tam
Professor and Department Head of Medicine & Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Honorary Consultant, Hospital Authority
Lai-Shan Tam, MD, is Division Head and a Professor in the Division of Rheumatology within the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). She is also an Honorary Consultant at the Hospital Authority and has been serving as the Chairperson of the International Affair Committee of APLAR since 2012.
She was President of the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology from 2011 to 2014, and Vice President of APLAR from 2014-2016. In addition, Professor Tam was a member of the International Task Force Subcommittee of ACR and the Task Force Subcommittee of ACR and on the EULAR Programme Committee from 2016-2019, and EULAR honorary member (since 2019). She serves as the Associate Editor of International Journal of Rheumatic Disease, and also as a member of the editorial boards in a number of journals including Rheumatology, Frontiers in Medicine and the Latin American Journal of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis, and she is also the international advisory board member of the Lancet Rheumatology.
She is the first author or co-author of over 200 articles published in major rheumatology journals. Her research interests include premature atherosclerosis and bone loss in patients with rheumatic diseases.
Professor Kevin Winthrop
Professor of Infectious Diseases, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Ophthalmology
Oregon Health and Science University, USA
Professor Kevin Winthrop received his undergraduate degree in biology from Yale University and completed his MD degree at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon, USA. He obtained a masters degree in epidemiology at University California at Berkeley and completed an infectious disease epidemiology fellowship with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before serving as a staff member at CDC. He has co-authored more than 100 publications, many detailing epidemiologic and clinical aspects of infections and other adverse events associated with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, particularly those related to biologic immunosuppressive therapies. Professor Winthrop also serves on the editorial board of Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, as Section Editor of Current Rheumatology Reports, and as an Associate Editor of BMC Infectious Diseases.
Doctor Grace Wright
President
Association of Women in Rheumatology
Dr Wright is a consultant rheumatologist in New York. She received her undergraduate degree at Columbia University and earned her medical and doctorate degrees at NYU School of Medicine. She completed an internship, residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in rheumatology at the NYU Medical Center where she served as Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine.
In 2014, Dr Wright founded the Association of Women in Rheumatology (AWIR) which has since grown to over 30 local chapters throughout the United States as well as a growing number of international chapters. She has served as the President of AWIR since its inception.
Dr Wright has research and clinical interest in the management and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. She has served as an investigator of several clinical trials and has given numerous professional lectures around the world.
Dr Wright is a fellow and member of the American College of Rheumatology. She has authored or co-authored several articles and is deeply engaged in medical education in Rheumatology.
Faculty Members
Professor Kimme Hyrich
Professor of Epidemiology
UK Centre for Epidemiology Versus Arthritis
Professor Hyrich completed her Bachelor of Science and Medical degree at the University of Manitoba in Canada. Following this, she trained in Internal Medicine in Winnipeg, Canada and completed a Fellowship in Rheumatology at the University of Toronto. She was awarded her PhD in 2005 subsequently working as a CIHR Research Fellow at the Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit in Manchester. She is now Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Manchester and an Honorary Rheumatology Consultant at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Her main research interests centre on outcomes in inflammatory arthritis, with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology. Professor Hyrich is a member of the EULAR registries group and the chief investigator for the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis as well as two national biologic registers for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis; the Versus Arthritis funded Safety of Biologics in Children with Rheumatic Diseases and the BSPAR Etanercept JIA Register. Professor Hyrich was instrumental in the collaboration of the global COVID-19 registers for patients with rheumatic disease.
Professor Robert Landewé
Professor of Rheumatology
Amsterdam University Medical Center & Zuyderland Medical Center, Heerlen, The Netherlands
Robert Landewé is a professor of rheumatology at the Academic Medical Center / University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and is chair of the department of rheumatology at Zuyderland Medical Center Heerlen, The Netherlands.
Professor Landewé received his medical degree from Maastricht University in 1990 and defended his thesis on cyclosporine therapy in rheumatoid arthritis in 1994 in Leiden.
He received practical training in general internal medicine and rheumatology at Atrium Medical Center, Heerlen and in rheumatology at the University Hospital, Maastricht. He practices rheumatology in the Zuyderland Medical Center in Heerlen/Sittard, The Netherlands.
Currently, Professor Landewé is involved in outcome research and epidemiological research in the field of rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis and other rheumatic & musculoskeletal manifestations. He has extensive experience in the design and analysis of clinical trials and has a special interest in medical statistics. Professor Landewé has authored or co-authored more than 600 articles and many book chapters covering a variety of topics, but with an emphasis on clinical epidemiology, methodology, statistics, and guideline development (‘meta-research’). Recently he has developed an interest in -and published about- worldwide equity-issues pertaining to rheumatic diseases, as well as overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
He has led many EULAR recommendation initiatives on the management of systemic sclerosis, early arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, and recently on the management of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases.
He is a regular reviewer for several general medicine-, rheumatology- and epidemiology journals.
Professor Landewé is a previous executive committee member of OMERACT, is board member and past president of the Assessment in Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS), previous executive board member of the Dutch Society of Rheumatology (responsible for quality of care issues), executive board member of the METEOR foundation (monitoring in rheumatology) and incoming chair of the Quality of Care committee of EULAR. He was the scientific chair of EULAR 2018 in Amsterdam.
Professor Christopher Edwards
Honorary Chair of Clinical Rheumatology
University of Southampton, UK
Professor Christopher Edwards is Consultant Rheumatologist and Honorary Chair of Clinical Rheumatology, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust within Medicine at the University of Southampton. He graduated with honors from King's College London and trained at the Hammersmith and St George's Hospitals in London. He was a registrar for Professor Graham Hughes at the St Thomas' Hospital lupus unit and then undertook a period of research as a lecturer at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at Imperial College under the supervision of Professor Ravinder Maini. He moved to Southampton in 2001 after working for a year as a rheumatology consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore.
Professor Edwards is a clinical rheumatologist with research interests and expertise in the epidemiology and treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
He is a member of international committees working to produce guidelines for the best management of rheumatic diseases, leading a systematic review of guidelines for the use of radiology in the diagnosis and management of rheumatoid arthritis for EULAR. With expertise in the planning and delivery of trials in this area, including early stage trials, Professor Edwards has developed strong local and international partnerships with clinical and academic colleagues, centered on his role as clinical lead of the Southampton Musculoskeletal Research Unit. Professor Edwards also serves as Associate Editor for Rheumatology, and on the editorial board of Lupus.
Professor Peter Taylor
Norman Collisson Professor of Musculoskeletal Sciences
University of Oxford, UK
Professor Peter Taylor studied pre-clinical medical sciences at Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge, where he earned his first degree in Physiology. He subsequently studied clinical medicine at the University of Oxford and was awarded a PhD degree from the University of London for studies on the pathogenesis of arthritis. In October 2011, Professor Taylor was appointed Norman Collisson Chair of Musculoskeletal Sciences at the University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of St. Peter's College, Oxford. He is the Head of Clinical Sciences at the Botnar Research Centre within the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences.
He has specialist clinical interests in novel therapies, rheumatoid and early arthritis. His research expertise is in mechanisms sustaining inflammation and clinical trials of new therapies with development of novel outcome measurements for application in assessment of response to therapy.
Professor John Isaacs
Director of Therapeutics North East, Professor of Clinical Rheumatology,
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Professor John Isaacs is the Director of Therapeutics North East at Newcastle University, and Professor of Clinical Rheumatology. He is also an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist with the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is the Scientific Chair-elect for the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). Professor Isaacs’ research interests include immunotherapy of rheumatic, autoimmune disease, therapeutic tolerance induction, pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and genetics and pharmacogenetics of rheumatoid arthritis. His translational research is considered internationally renowned.
Professor Paul Emery
Versus Arthritis UK Professor of Rheumatology, Director, NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre
University of Leeds
Prof Emery trained at Cambridge, Guy’s and Brompton. After completing his accreditation in Rheumatology and GIM. He was Head of Rheumatology at Walter & Eliza Hall Institute and Consultant at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1985. He returned to the University of Birmingham as a Senior Lecturer in 1987. Since 1995 he has been Versus Arthritis UK (formerly ARC) Professor of Rheumatology in Leeds, and inaugural Director of the Leeds NIHR Biomedical Research Centre 2009-present. Leeds under his direction is one of the worlds’ largest and most highly rated centres. Since 2009, he has been Director of the Leeds NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.
Prof Emery was President of EULAR 2009-2011. He was inaugural chair of FOREUM Executive. He is an ACR Master. He has served on the editorial boards of all the major rheumatology journals. He was inaugural President of ISEMIR (International extremity MRI society). He has been an NIHR Senior Investigator since 2008. He is a recipient of the Roche Biennial Award for Clinical Rheumatology; the Rheumatology Hospital Doctor of the Year award 1999; and EULAR prize 2002 for outstanding contribution to rheumatology research. In 2012 he was awarded the Carol Nachman Prize. In 2018 he was awarded an OBE by the Queen and in 2020 received the Meritorious Service Award from EULAR.
Professor Emery’s research interests centre around the immunopathogenesis and immunotherapy of rheumatoid arthritis, SpA, psoriatic disease and connective tissue diseases. He has a special interest in the factors leading to persistent inflammation. He was instrumental in bringing sensitive imaging (MRI/US) into rheumatology practice. He established the concept of early intervention in inflammatory arthritis, with a model for early arthritis now adopted. He is currently focusing on the prevention of autoimmune diseases with national programmes identifying patients in the pre-clinical phase. This prevention strategy is applied not only to inflammatory arthritis but to systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren’s syndrome, scleroderma, and psoriatic disease. He has published >1200 peer-reviewed articles in this area and has an h index of >140.
Professor Bernard Combe
Professor of Rheumatology
Head of the Bone and Joint Department at Montpellier University Hospital
Bernard Combe is Professor of Rheumatology at Montpellier University, France, and Head of the Bone and Joint Department at Montpellier University Hospital.
He completed his medical education at Montpellier University and was subsequently awarded a research fellowship in clinical immunology at the University of Texas, San Antonio, USA.
Professor Combe was elected member of the National Board of Universities (Rheumatology) from 1994–2000 and again from 2006, as well as being president from 2010–2013. He is an active member of numerous EULAR and ACR task forces. Professor Combe is Editor-in-Chief of RMD Open and of La Lettre du Rhumatologue. In addition, he is a member of the editorial boards of Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis and Rheumatism and Joint Bone Spine. He has co-authored more than 315 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals and has been a coordinator or main investigator in 131 clinical trials.
Professor Thomas Dörner
Professor and Principal Investigator
Charité University Hospitals Berlin, Germany
Professor Thomas Dörner is a Professor of Rheumatology at Charité University Hospitals, Berlin, and group leader at the German Research Centre of Rheumatology, Berlin (DRFZ).
He qualified in medicine in 1990 at Charité University Hospitals, Berlin, and received his board certification in internal medicine in 1995. He undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Centre at Dallas, where he researched delineating molecular aspects of the B-cell receptor gene usage in autoimmune diseases.
Professor Dörner has led various clinical trials of rheumatic diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and seronegative spondyloarthropathies. His research interests focus on the characterisation of disturbances of humoral autoimmunity and abnormalities of B cell subsets in the blood versus tissue. He also explores innovative therapeutic approaches with particular focus on B-cell directed therapy as well as improving diagnostic tools in autoimmune diseases.
Professor Dörner has served as a member of Editorial Boards of leading journals in rheumatology and immunology, including Arthritis & Rheumatism, Arthritis Research & Therapy, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. He has received a number of awards including the Senior Scholar Award of the American College of Rheumatology, the H Schultze Award of the German League Against Rheumatism, Randy Fischer Prize for Excellence in flow cytometry and the Schoen Award of the German Society of Rheumatology.
Professor Stanley B. Cohen
Clinical Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Co-Director of the Division of Rheumatology,
UT Southwestern Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas
Professor Stanley Cohen completed a degree in biology from the University of Virginia and received his Doctor of Medicine with honours, from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham. He completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Texas, and a fellowship in Rheumatology at UT Southwestern/St. Paul University Hospital.
In 1994, Cohen was awarded the Medical Professional Award from the Arthritis Foundation, North Texas Chapter, of which he is also a lifetime board member. He is a past president of the American College of Rheumatology and was honoured in 2016 with the designation of Master by the American College of Rheumatology. He has co authored more than 400 medical publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Arthritis and Rheumatism, and Archives of Internal Medicine.
