Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
- Professor of Rheumatology and Neuromuscular Diseases
- Department of Neuromuscular Diseases
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
- Faculty of Brain Sciences
I am a Professor and Consultant in Rheumatology and Neuromuscular diseases at University College London (UCL), University College Hospital (UCH), National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) and Northwick Park Hospital. I am a principal investigator at the UCL Department of Neuromuscular Diseases (Institute of Neurology) and at the UCL Centre for Rheumatology (Division of Medicine). I run specialist spondyloarthritis (rheumatology department) and myopathy (neuromuscular department) NHS clinics. I have published over 220 articles and seven book chapters. I have been awarded over £6 million research funding, including four research fellowships. I have won 13 scientific prizes. I am the past-chair of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Standing Committee on Epidemiology and Health Services Research (SCEHSR), and a member of the COVID–19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Steering Committee, the EULAR-COVID-19 Registry steering group, the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS) Executive Committee, the British Society of Spondyloarthritis (BRITSpA), the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR), The American College of Rheumatology (ACR), The Portuguese Society of Rheumatology (SPR), The International Myositis Assessment & Clinical Studies Group (IMACS), The Muscle Study Group (MSG), and The British Myology Society (BMS). I am also past-chair (2013–2014) of the Emerging EULAR Network (EMEUNET). I am also a member of the Editorial Board of the journals RMD Open, Best Practice & Research: Clinical Rheumatology, and Acta Reumatológica Portuguesa.


My research interests include the investigation of new therapeutic strategies and the assessment and prediction of outcomes in rheumatic and neuromuscular diseases, with a focus on myositis and axial spondyloarthritis. More recently I have developed an interest in COVID-19, particularly in the outcome of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic and neuromuscular diseases.
1. Lecturer & Organiser of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual Epidemiology Course.
2. Lecturer for the MSc/MRes Neuromuscular Disease Programme, UCL Institute of Neurology: a) Convenor of the module “Skeletal Muscle and Associated Diseases”; b) Talks for the “Skeletal Muscle and Associated Diseases Module”: 1) “Acquired Myopathy - Inflammatory Myopathies”; 2) “Inclusion Body Myositis”; 3) “Myofibrillar Myopathies”; c) Talk for the “Motoneurons, Neuromuscular Junctions and associated diseases” Module: 1) “Setting up Clinical Trials in MND and Neuromuscular Diseases”.
3. Lecturer for the MRes in Translation Neurology and MSc Brain and Mind Sciences, UCL Institute of Neurology: a) Talk “Clinical Research in Neuromuscular Diseases” from the “Experimental Neurology” module.
4. Lecturer for the “Research Methods and Critical Appraisal” Module (shared by various MSc/MRes programmes), UCL Institute of Neurology, with the talk “Comparing groups (between 2 means: paired & unpaired, between 2 or more proportions))”.
5. Lecturer for the Update in Neuromuscular Disorders annual course, UCL Institute of Neurology: “Inclusion Body Myositis Update”.