Professor Michael Doherty MA MD FRCP FHEA is Professor of Rheumatology and Head of Division of Rheumatology, Orthopaedics and Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham. His main research interests are osteoarthritis (OA), gout, calcium pyrophosphate crystal deposition (CPPD), placebo/contextual response and evidence based medicine. He has expertise in clinical and epidemiological studies, community-based clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. He has over 300 original research publications and was awarded the OA Research Society International (OARSI) Clinical Research Award for 2012. He is a past editor of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (1992-99), has co-chaired EULAR Task Forces for recommendations for OA, gout and CPPD arthritis, and has been involved as a clinical expert in NICE appraisals for OA and gout. Professor David Hunter is a rheumatology clinician researcher whose main research focus has been clinical and translational research in osteoarthritis (OA). He is the Florance and Cope Chair of Rheumatology and Professor of Medicine at University of Sydney, and Staff Specialist at Royal North Shore Hospital and North Sydney Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Centre. His research is focused on a number of key elements in OA including (but not limited to) the epidemiology of osteoarthritis, the application of imaging to better understand structure and function with application to both epidemiologic research and clinical trials, novel therapies in disease management and heath service system delivery of chronic disease management. He is an editor for leading international journals in his field. He has authored books on osteoarthritis and has over 350 publications in peer reviewed journals. Johannes (Hans) Bijlsma is professor of Rheumatology at the University of Utrecht, as well as at both Universities (VU and UVA) in Amsterdam. He was Head of the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology in Utrecht (1989-2013) and of the Amsterdam Rheumatology and immunology Center (2013-2015). His main research interests are osteoarthritis (OA), treatment strategies in rheumatoid arthritis and glucocorticoids. He has expertise in clinical and epidemiological studies, randomised controlled clinical trials in early RA, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. He has over 600 original research publications and was awarded the Jan van Breemen Award for his scientific work in the Netherlands (2015). He is an associate editor of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2005 - ongoing), has co-chaired EULAR Task Forces for recommendations for OA and the use of glucocorticoids. He has been the chair of Education of EULAR, the coordinator of the EULAR online courses and is presently the President-elect of EULAR Nigel Arden is a Professor of Rheumatic Diseases and an International Leader in Epidemiology and predictive modelling and trial design. He has clinical and research expertise in osteoarthritis, arthroplasty and osteoporosis and has published numerous manuscripts based on the use of cohort and large routinely collected databases in musculoskeletal diseases and their treatment. His research interests focus on the epidemiology of musculoskeletal diseases, with a focus on Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis. He is based in the Botnar Research Centre, University of Oxford with additional sessions at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton. Professor Nicola Dalbeth is an academic rheumatologist who leads a clinical and laboratory programme of research in gout, an inflammatory arthritis of major significance to Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work focuses on understanding the impact and mechanisms of disease in gout. She is a founding member of the Counties Manukau District Health Board Maori Gout Action Group, and she was the Lead Clinical Advisor for the Gout Clinical Pathways (Greater Auckland Integrated Healthcare Network) and the national bpac Gout Treatment Guidelines. She has served as an Expert Panel member on the American College of Rheumatology Gout Management Guidelines, and is a steering committee member for the OMERACT gout working group and the ACR/EULAR gout classification project.
