Dr. Nisha Nair is a research fellow working in the Centre for Genetics and Genomics Versus Arthritis at the University of Manchester. She is the project manager for the Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMD) theme of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. Dr. Nisha is also the University of Manchester’s School of Biological Sciences Laboratory Environmental Sustainability Lead. She earned her Bachelor of Science (hons) at Aston University in 2010. She is a post-doctoral research fellow who has worked in musculoskeletal disease genetics since the start of her PhD in 2011. She joined the University of Manchester as a research assistant in 2014. Her main research area concentrates primarily on biomarkers of treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions.
Prof. Ann W. Morgan is Head of the Molecular and
Personalised Medicine Group within the Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and
Metabolic Medicine. She graduated from the University of Leeds with first-class
honors in pathology and a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery with Honors, having
achieved distinctions in biochemistry and surgery and prizes in medicine and
surgery. She subsequently undertook a PhD studying Fcg receptor genetics in
rheumatoid arthritis, supported by an MRC Clinical Training Fellowship. Her
main clinical interests are vasculitis and rare autoimmune diseases, and she
leads the regional Behçets syndrome and large vessel vasculitis services. She
sits on the Medical Board for Vasculitis UK and the Behçet’s Syndrome Society,
and is a Medical Advisor for PMRGCAuk.
Prof. John D. Isaacs is a Consultant Rheumatologist at the
Freeman Hospital, Professor of Clinical Rheumatology at Newcastle University
and Associate Medical Director for Research at Newcastle Hospitals. Professor
John Isaacs trained in medicine at London University and subsequently read for
his PhD in immunology at Cambridge University. His postgraduate medical
training included posts at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, Beth Israel
Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. He
originally started to train in nephrology, switching to rheumatology after his
PhD. Prior to moving to Newcastle in 2002 he was Professor of Experimental
Rheumatology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals and the University of Leeds, having
taken up his first consultant post there in 1995, as senior lecturer in
rheumatology. In 2019 Professor Isaacs became a National Institute for Health
Research Senior Investigator, and is past Chair of the Scientific Committee of
the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (2019–2020). From 2007
to 2017 Professor Isaacs chaired Arthritis Research UK’s Clinical Study Group
for Adult Inflammatory Arthritis, developing a competitive research agenda for
the UK. His research interests include immunotherapy of rheumatic, autoimmune
disease, clinical therapeutic tolerance, pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis
and genetics and pharmacogenetics of rheumatoid arthritis.
Prof. Anthony G. Wilson graduated in medicine from Queen’s University Belfast in 1983. He was awarded an ARC Clinical Fellowship for a PhD thesis, which he undertook at the University of Sheffield and successfully completed in 1995. He was subsequently awarded an ARC Copeman Fellowship for research at Stanford University. He was appointed Professor in Rheumatology and Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at the University of Sheffield Medical School and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he was Head of the Sheffield EULAR Centre of Excellence for Rheumatology. He was appointed to the Arthritis Ireland/UCD Chair of Rheumatology in 2013 and leads the UCD Centre for Arthritis Research. His research interests center on the genetic background of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), both related to susceptibility and severity. He also studies pharmacogenetics, specifically the identification of genetic and epigenetic biomarkers predictive of response to methotrexate and anti-TNF therapies. He is also interested in monogenic autoinflammatory disorders, including Behcet’s disease and chronic non-bacterial osteomyelitis, using whole exome sequencing and laboratory techniques to determine their pathobiology.
Kimme L. Hyrich is a Professor of Epidemiology in the Centre for Epidemiology Versus Arthritis, part of the Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, and a Consultant Rheumatologist in the Kellgren Centre for Rheumatology at Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She completed her Bachelor of Science and medical degree at the University of Manitoba in Canada. This was followed by training in internal medicine in Winnipeg, Canada, and a fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Toronto. She subsequently worked as an Arthritis Society of Canada/CIHR Research Fellow at the then Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit in Manchester, being awarded her PhD in 2005. She joined this unit as a senior lecturer in 2006. Her main research interests are understanding the short- and long-term outcomes of adult and childhood inflammatory arthritis, including a greater understanding of the role treatments play in these outcomes. She is the national chief investigator for the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register (BSRBR), a member of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR), the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology (BSPAR), and the Paediatric Rheumatology European Society (PRES).
Anne Barton is Professor of Rheumatology, Versus
Arthritis Centre for Genetics and Genomics, and Honorary Consultant in
Rheumatology at Central Manchester Hospitals. She trained at the University of
Manchester, qualified as a doctor in 1991, and became a consultant in 2001
after completing a PhD in genetic risk in rheumatoid arthritis. She joined the
Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit in 1998 after being introduced to the
field of genetics of complex disease when she undertook a laboratory-based
research project as part of her MSc in Clinical Rheumatology in 1997. She is
interested in response to treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. She
was awarded the NIHR Senior Investigator Award in 2016.
