Dr. Jennifer Lee received her MD degree from the College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, in 2005. She earned her PhD degree from Rheumatology, Internal Medicine, College of Medicine,
The Catholic University of Korea, in 2015. After completing her medical residency at the Catholic Medical Center in Korea, she started a fellowship in the rheumatology department of Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital in 2011. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of the Rheumatology Department at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Her
research and clinical focus is on gout, Sjogren’s syndrome, spondyloarthritis, and cell therapy.
Dr. Tony R. Merriman is an Honorary Research Professor of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. He completed an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Otago, graduating in 1989. He then completed a PhD in Biochemistry with Prof. Iain Lamont as supervisor, studying the role of the PvdD gene in iron chelation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. After graduating in 1993, he undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford from 1994 to 1998 in the genetics of type 1 diabetes, under the mentorship of Professor John Todd. Upon coming back to the UoO in 1998, he switched from studying the genetics of one autoimmune disease (type 1 diabetes) to another (rheumatoid arthritis). In the early 2000s, based on the research need in Aotearoa, NZ, he switched to the genetics of a very common form of arthritis, gout. In 2020, he transferred the gout program of research to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where the research focus is now on the innate immune system response to monosodium urate crystals, the cause of gout. He has ongoing collaborations and kaitiaki of sample repositories in NZ.
Dr. Ru Liu-Bryan is a Professor of Medicine at the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA, and a Research Health Science Specialist of VASDHS. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at Imperial College London, UK, and completed her post-doctoral training in molecular and cellular biology at Cambridge University and the Burnham Institute. She investigates the molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of gout and osteoarthritis, focusing on innate immunity, immune metabolism and cell signaling and how metabolic alterations and inflammation influence each other in the development and progression of these diseases. Her lab is currently exploring the potential of modulating the activity of AMP-activated protein
kinase (AMPK), a nutritional and metabolic energy sensor, as a therapeutic strategy for osteoarthritis and gout.
Dr. Robert Terkeltaub is a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at UC San Diego. He received his medical degree at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and completed McGill-based residency and fellowship training programs at Montreal General Hospital in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology. He has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards at UC San Diego. He has served on numerous journal editorial boards, grant review committees, and scientific advisory boards for arthritis and vascular biology and is the founding President of the gout, hyperuricemia, and crystal-associated disease global research network G-CAN. His research has concentrated principally on inflammation, crystal deposition disease, and skeletal and vascular biology and the interfaces between them.
