Professor Iain McInnes is the Vice Principal and Head of College of MVLS in the University of Glasgow, UK. He is also the current President of the EULAR, the leading 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 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.

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.

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.

Dr Cem Gabay was trained in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology in Switzerland and in Paris, France. He worked as a research fellow and then as Assistant Professor in the laboratory of Professor W.P Arend at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, USA. Dr Gabay was appointed as Head of the Division of Rheumatology in 2001, and is currently also Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine Specialties since 2013.

He is an expert in the field of IL-1 cytokines and acute-phase responses. Dr Gabay's clinical interests are focused on rheumatoid arthritis. He has performed several comparative studies on drug effectiveness using the data from the Swiss Clinical Quality Management registry on rheumatoid arthritis, and has led one of the first head- to-head clinical trials on biological agents in rheumatoid arthritis. He has published more than 200 original and review articles.

Dr Gabay was President of the Swiss Society of Rheumatology from 2008 to 2012, and has been the recipient of several awards from the Swiss Society of Rheumatology, EULAR, the International Cytokine Society, and the Medicine-Biology award from the University of Istanbul. He is member of the Editorial board of several scientific Journals.

Professor Juan Gómez-Reino completed his medical and doctor of philosophy degrees at the University of Madrid, Spain and his postgraduate training in internal medicine and rheumatology at the New York State University, Stony Brook, USA. He was formerly chief of the Department of Research and Section of Rheumatology at Hospital Doce de Octubre, Madrid, Spain.

Professor Gómez-Reino’s main clinical interest is chronic inflammatory arthropathies, and his experimental research is in the genetics of complex diseases, the effect of neuropeptides on chondrocyte function, and arthritis in animal models. He has authored or co-authored a number of original articles and papers in the areas of rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis and other rheumatology-specific disorders.

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.

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.

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 Christopher Ritchlin is the Chief of the Allergy Immunology and Rheumatology Division and a Master in the American College of Rheumatology. He is also on the Executive Committee of the Center for Musculoskeletal Research.

He studied Medicine at Albany Medical College, before completing his residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Centre, in New, York. He completed his fellowship in rheumatology at New York University Langone Medical Centre. Professor Ritchlin obtained his Master’s in public health at the University of Rochester Medical Centre, where he is now a Professor of Medicine. and he was the recipient of several teaching awards.

Professor Ritchlin has a clinical focus in psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. His main research interests are understanding the mechanisms of pathologic bone resorption and new bone formation in spondyloarthritis, the role of the lymphatics in rheumatoid flare and identification of risk factors for arthritis in psoriasis patients. Additionally, he is the principle investigator on several clinical trials, which examine the efficacy of anti-TNF agents and other biologic molecules in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. His laboratory is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Psoriasis Foundation.

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 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 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.

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.

Professor Ernest Choy is Head of Rheumatology and Translational Research at the Institute of Infection and Immunity, and Director of the Cardiff Regional Experimental Arthritis Treatment and Evaluation (CREATE) Centre at Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales, UK. He is also Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at University Hospital of Wales, and Clinical Lead of the Welsh Arthritis Research Network (WARN). Previously, he was Reader and Director of the King’s Musculoskeletal Clinical Trials Unit in the Academic Department of Rheumatology, King’s College London. His major research interest is the treatment of rheumatic diseases focusing on the efficacy of new treatment strategies. He was Director of Research and Development at King's College Hospital between 2003 and 2008.

Professor Choy is a member of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Committee Standing Committee for International Clinical Studies Including Therapeutic Trials. He chairs the EULAR Taskforce on developing recommendations for management and classification criteria for fibromyalgia. Professor Choy has served as clinical expert to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the UK, and many pharmaceutical companies. He has published widely on treatments for rheumatic diseases in major medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine. He is a frequent lecturer on the treatment of rheumatic diseases.

Kurt de Vlam is a Principal Investigator in Rheumatology at the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium.

Professor de Vlam obtained his medical degree, rheumatology specialization, and PhD from Ghent University, Belgium. He then joined University Hospitals Leuven, where he is currently the group leader for spondyloarthropathies and psoriatic arthritis, responsible for a specialized outpatient clinic for spondyloarthropathies and psoriatic arthritis. Professor de Vlam is also a visiting Professor at the 4th Military Medical University Xi’an, in Xi’an, China.

As well as conducting clinical trials, Professor de Vlam is the founder of the spondyloarthritis registries SPAR and BIOSPAR, databases at the Rheumatology Department of the University Hospitals Leuven. He is also a Principal Investigator for the BEPASS cohort, a longitudinal observational cohort in psoriatic arthritis in Belgium. Professor de Vlam’s research interest include biomechanics, pathological bone formation, rare bone and joint diseases, eHealth applications, as well as the development and implementation of early phase and late phase clinical trials.

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 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.

Dr. Fleischmann is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and in private practice at Rheumatology Associates, Dallas, Texas. He has served as Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at UTSMC-University Hospitals-St. Paul, Dallas, Texas since 1978. Dr. Fleishmann is Co-Medical Director of Metroplex Clinical Research Center.

He received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center in 1969, before completing his residency in Internal Medicine at the Mt Sinai Hospital, New York City, New York, and his Fellowship in Rheumatology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City, New York.

Laure Gossec, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Rheumatology in Sorbonne Université and Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France. Professor Gossec earned her medical degree and her specialty training in rheumatology at Paris Descartes University and earned her PhD in clinical epidemiology from Montpellier University, Montpellier, France. Laure Gossec has a half-time clinical position where she mainly sees patients with inflammatory arthritis, and a half-time teaching and research position. In her teaching role, she has set up in her university a 20-hour module for medical students on patient–physician relationship and shared decision-making. In her research time, Professor Gossec’s interest is clinical research, in particular outcomes research and epidemiological research, with a focus on outcome measures for clinical trials and clinical practice, prediction of outcome and targeted treatments, in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis. Professor Gossec is particularly interested in the patient’s perspective and patient-centered research and has successfully lead Europe-wide projects to develop scores to assess the impact of RA then PsA, under the aegis of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR).

In 2019, Professor Gossec was the lead investigator of an international study on outcomes in PsA (the Remission and Flares in PsA study), she led a EULAR taskforce on Big Data in rheumatology and coordinated with Professor Smolen (Austria) an update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of PsA.

Professor Gossec is Past-Chair of the Epidemiology standing committee of EULAR and is a founding member and past Chairperson of the Emerging EULAR Network (EMEUNET).

Professor Gossec has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed manuscripts published in journals such as Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis & Rheumatology, Rheumatology and Arthritis Research and Therapy.

Ahmet Gul is a Professor of Rheumatology at the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Turkey. Professor Gul’s research areas include: Behçet's disease and immunologic and genetic aspects in its pathogenesis; molecular genetics of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF); complex genetic disorders and genetic susceptibility in the pathogenesis of rheumatic disorders.

In 1995, Professor Gul won the Sedat Simavi Award followed by the Turkish Academy of Sciences Successful Young Scientists Award (2001). He was awarded the Istanbul University Research Fund Meliha Terzioglu Award (2001), and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Junior Science Award (2004). Professor Gul is a member of the Rheumatism Society (Istanbul) and the Society for Research and Education in Rheumatology. He is also member of the Turkish Society of Immunology, and Chairman of the Behcet's Disease Society of Turkey. Professor Gul is also a member of the International Society for Behçet's Disease.

Thomas Huizinga is Professor of Rheumatology, Department Head of Rheumatology, and Vice-clinical Educator of Rheumatology at Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands. He is also Chairman of the ‘Meteor’ foundation, an international registry of rheumatoid arthritis disease activity and medication use in more than 20 countries, and is also Chairman of the National Postgraduate Educational Committee of Dutch Rheumatology.

Professor Huizinga completed medical school and his doctorate research at the University of Amsterdam. He subsequently studied at Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire, US, and then specialised as a rheumatologist at Leiden University Medical Center, where he became a full Professor of Rheumatology in 2000.

For more than 30 years, Professor Huizinga has carried out research on pathogenesis, diagnostics and treatment of rheumatological disorders. He has published more than 750 scientific publications and more than 20 book chapters. He has also served on the editorial boards of many journals including Plos Medicine, Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, and Arthritis Rheumatism.

Professor Huizinga has participated in a number of international scientific committees, including those that established the 2010 ACR-EULAR criteria for RA, and the EULAR guidelines for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. He has been awarded with a number of prizes including in 1997 the EULAR young investigator award, in 2009 the ‘Willy van Heuman award for generation of in vitro models as alternatives for animal models’, and in 2011 the ‘Eurolife Distinguished Faculty Lecture Medal’ by the Karolinska Institut in Stockholm, Sweden.

Professor Simon Jones is currently Deputy Director for the Division of Infection and Immunity at the School of Medicine in Cardiff University where he leads the inflammation research group. He has a PhD in Biochemistry from Bristol University. Professor Jones has since developed a research programme focused on the cytokine pathways that determine balance between competent host defence and inflammation induced tissue damage. Studies explore the control of innate and adaptive immunity, and the contribution of stromal tissue in determining disease outcomes.

Professor Kalunian is the Co-Director of the UC San Diego Centre for Innovative Therapy, the Director of UC San Diego Lupus Centre of Excellence and is a Professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology in the School of Medicine at UC San Diego.

He obtained his Medical Degree at the St. Louis University School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UC Los Angeles, Professor Kalunian is a Fellow, American College of Rheumatology.

His research interests focuses on innovative strategies for the treatment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and is interested in prognostic and predictive factors for outcomes in rheumatic diseases.

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 Bruce Kirkham studied medicine in New Zealand, before undertaking rheumatology training at Guy’s Hospital in London. In 1991, he became a Consultant Rheumatologist in Adelaide and Sydney, and in 2000, he was appointed as a Consultant Rheumatologist to the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London. Professor Kirkham is also a Professor of Translational Rheumatology at King’s College London. In 2013, he was awarded the Outstanding Best Practice Award by the British Society of Rheumatology, after setting up a service to optimise the care of patients with rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis. His research is focussed on IL-17/23 pathways in inflammatory arthritis, with an aim of ensuring the best practice for arthritis patients. In 2016, his team was named by GRAPPA as one of seven international best practice centres.

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 Burkhard Möller is Leading Physician in the Department of Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology and Allergology at University Hospital (Inselspital), Bern, Switzerland. He is also Associate Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern.

Professor Möller gained his Master’s Degree at Hannover Medical University, Hannover, Germany. He became a lecturer in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at the medical faculties of Frankfurt and of Bern, and gained Professorship at the University of Bern. Professor Möller holds titles from the Swiss Medical Association (Foederatio Medicorum Helveticorum [FMH]) in internal medicine, rheumatology, haematology and oncology.

As well as member of the American College of Rheumatology, Professor Möller is also member of the Swiss Society for Rheumatology, the Swiss Clinical Quality Management (SCQM) programme, and of the German Society of Rheumatology.

Professor Möller’s research interests include the pathogenesis of rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, anaemia of chronic disease, and musculoskeletal ultrasound in arthritis. He has published widely in journals including Rheumatology, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Arthritis & Rheumatology, and Arthritis Care & Research.

Dr Basu is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist, NHS Glasgow and is currently the elected co-chair of the UK and Ireland Vasculitis Society.

He earned his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, went on to achieve his Postgraduate Medical Training & Training Board in the field of Rheumatology and Internal Medicine. He later went onto complete his PhD in Epidemiology.

Dr Basu is a member of the UK Scleroderma study group, an associate editor for Arthritis & Rheumatology, BMC Rheumatology and F1000 Prime Faculty. He has also contributed as an author to several research papers focusing on vasculitis and inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

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 Georg Schett studied medicine at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, graduating in 1994. He then completed his post-doc research fellowship at the Institute for Biomedical Aging Research of the Austrian Academy of Science in Innsbruck in 1996. Between 1996 and 2001, he undertook his training in internal medicine and rheumatology at the Department of Internal Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He has been a specialist in internal medicine since 2001 and rheumatology/immunology since 2003. Since 2006, he has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine III, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (EULAR Center of Excellence).

Professor Schett’s main clinical interests include the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic diseases. His research interests include the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and the molecular basis of immune-mediated diseases. He has published more than 350 research articles and received numerous awards in his field including the National Award for Rheumatology Research in 2000, the START Award of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) in 2003, the Bilroth Award in 2004, and the ESCI Award for Excellence in Clinical Research in 2011. In 2004, Professor Schett worked as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry. He holds guest professorships at the University of San Diego Medical School, USA (2009), the University of Guangzhou, China and the University of Xian, China (2012). He is an active member of several national and international societies, and serves on the editorial board of several journals including Arthritis and Rheumatism and Annals of Rheumatic Diseases. He is Chairperson of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Standing Committee on Investigative Rheumatology.

Professor Josef Smolen is a Professor of Internal Medicine, Head of Department of Medicine III, and the chairman of the Division of Rheumatology at the Medical University of Vienna. He has also served as a past President of EULAR from 2003-2005, as President of the Austrian Society of Rheumatology from 2005-2007 and 2007-2009. He became fellow of the Royal Society of Physicians in 2008 and Honorary Doctor of the University of Lund in 2010. Professor Smolen is one of the most cited rheumatologists in the world.

He received his MD degree from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, and trained there in immunology and medicine before serving as a research fellow at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Professor Smolen’s main research activities include clinical trials and outcomes research, in additional to laboratory-based research in the fields of experimental arthritis, autoimmunity, in vivo imaging, proinflammatory cytokines, and cellular immunology. He is an editorial board member of several professional journals, textbooks and handbooks in the field of rheumatology.

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.

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.

Douglas J. Veale is a Professor of Medicine, Director of Translational Research at DAMC, Consultant Rheumatologist at St Vincent’s University Hospital, and Fellow and Principal Investigator at The Conway Institute for Biomedical and Biomolecular Research, University College Dublin (UCD). He is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (1997) and the Royal College of Physicians, London (1999). Professor Veale graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1984 and obtained his MD by thesis from UCD in 1992.

Professor Veale has established an international reputation in translational research in the areas of early arthritis, biopharmaceutical therapy, biomarkers and scleroderma. He has established an excellent research team including senior scientists, post-doctoral scientists, clinical research fellows and PhD students funded by peer-reviewed grants from The American Federation for Ageing Research, The European Union FP6 and an FP7 funded Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), The Health Research Board of Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions and several industry partnership programmes.

Professor Veale’s primary research interests include inflammatory arthritis – rheumatoid/psoriatic arthritis, novel biopharmaceutical therapy and biomarkers.

Mikkel Østergaard graduated from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1990. In September 2003, he was appointed Professor in Rheumatology and Arthritis at University of Copenhagen. His PhD dissertation and doctoral thesis described different aspects of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography in knee and wrist joints affected by rheumatoid arthritis. He has co-authored more than 125 scientific articles on rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory arthritides.

Professor Østergaard is currently involved in national and international clinical and imaging studies of rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis, co-chair of the OMERACT MRI in inflammatory arthritis special interest group, and member of several other international working groups within imaging in inflammatory joint diseases. He serves as Education and Research Committee Chair on the International Society of Musculoskeletal Imaging in Rheumatology.