I am Professor of Rheumatology and an NIHR Senior Investigator at the Centre for Epidemiology, Versus Arthritis, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Division of Musculoskeletal and DermatologicalSciences. 

My clinical work is at The Kellgren Centre for Rheumatology, Manchester University Foundation Trust. I am also Director of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre and Academic Director of Health Innovation Manchester. 

I qualified in Medicine from Queen's University Belfast in 1988 and gained my MRCP in 1991. My clinical training in medicine and rheumatology was in Northern Ireland and I completed my MD Thesis on the pathogenesis of systemic vasculitis in 1995. From 1996-1998 I was the Geoff Carr Lupus Fellow at the University of Toronto ( Profs M Urowtiz and D Gladman). I moved to Manchester in 1998 initially as an NHS consultant but later transferred to the University in 2003. I was appointed Professor of Rheumatology in August 2010 and an NIHR Senior Investigator in April 2013 (now Emeritus). 

I lead the Connective Tissue Disease programme in the Musculoskeletal Theme of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. My major research focus is on the association between inflammatory rheumatic diseases and premature atherosclerosis / coronary heart disease. In particular, my focus is on long-term outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Through my membership of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics and the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group, I lead the BILAG Biologics Register and several studies on Metabolic Syndrome in SLE and Long-term damage in SLE. I am also Chief Investigator in the MASTERPLANS Consortium, an MRC-funded SLE Stratified Medicine Consortium. 

I am committed to contributing to and participating in important collaborative studies and in the past few years I have been involved in the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium and the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Registry Control Consortium. The studies arising from these collaborations have resulted in important advances in our understanding of the genetic basis of several common disease (WTCCC) as well as our understanding of the safety and long-term efficacy of biologic agents used in RA (BSRBR). 

I provide consultancy for several pharmaceutical companies and serve on Data Safety Steering Committees in a number of commercial and academic clinical trials and am Chair of the Astra Zeneca Anifrolumab Global Steering Committee.

• Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Unit: Prof A Barton, Prof W Thomson, Dr M Lunt, Dr J Sergeant
• Women's and Children's Health: Dr C Tower, Prof C Sibley, Dr I Crocker
• Centre for Genomic Medicine: Dr T Briggs
• Centre for Health Economics: Prof K Payne and Dr S Gavan
• Stoller Biomarker Centre: Prof T Whetton
• Health eResearch Centre: Dr N Geifman, Prof N Peek 

• NIHR Senior Investigator
• Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London
• British Society for Rheumatology
• American College of Rheumatology
• Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland
• Immediate Past-Chair: Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics 

• Clinical Assessment Tools for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
• Observational Cohort Studies
• Case-control Studies
• Randomised Trials

• MB BCh BAO: Queen's University Belfast 1988
• MRCP (UK): 1991 
• Doctor of Medicine: Queen's University Belfast 1995   
• FRCP (RCP London) 2022