Professor Edwards is a clinical rheumatologist with research interests and expertise in the treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
Professor Edwards trained under Professor Hughes at St Thomas’ Hospital, and at the Hammersmith Hospital and the Kennedy Institute in London. He also spent a year treating lupus patients in Singapore.
Professor Edwards’ current research focusses on understanding the causes of inflammatory rheumatic diseases including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. He is also working on projects looking at new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis – the effects of inflammation on the brain.
Professor Edwards is Clinical Director of the Southampton Musculoskeletal Research Unit, a recognised EULAR (European) centre of excellence and is a past Chair of the EULAR Education Committee. He is co-convenor for the next EULAR Recommendations for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Professor David D’Cruz is a Consultant Rheumatologist in the Louise Coote Lupus Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital. His major clinical and research interests are systemic lupus erythematosus, the antiphospholipid syndrome and systemic vasculitis.
He trained at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London. Senior House Officer and Registrar rotations at University College and the Royal London Hospital were followed by a clinical registrar post and then an ARC Clinical Research Fellowship at St Thomas’ Hospital leading to an MD degree.
He was appointed Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology at St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Hospitals following a Senior Registrar post there. Professor D’Cruz has published extensively on lupus and the associated conditions. He is one of the Managing Editors of the journal Lupus and is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Autoimmune Diseases.
Dr Maria Bickerstaff is a Consultant Rheumatologist with her major clinical interest being in pregnancy and rheumatic diseases. Dr Bickerstaff has gained over 20 years of clinical experience in this field and also in adolescent and young adult rheumatology.
After qualifying in London Dr Bickerstaff has gained a wealth of experience in the management of a vast range of connective tissue diseases.
Dr Bickerstaff established high risk ante-natal and parallel Rheumatology / Obstetric clinics for the care of women who suffer with a range of rheumatic conditions associated with pregnancy which includes autoimmune in both inflammatory and non-inflammatory disorders.
Dr Sanna was appointed as a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Louise Coote Lupus Unit, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in 2008, having previously worked as a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Homerton University Hospital since 2003.
Dr Sanna qualified at the University of Rome in 1991 and did his specialist training in Rheumatology at the University of Cagliari, Italy. He completed his PhD in 2000 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 2006.
Having formerly trained in the Lupus Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital under Professor Graham Hughes, he has a special interest in connective tissue diseases, in particular systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome and myositis.
In his NHS practice at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals Dr Sanna looks after a large number of patients with SLE and other connective tissue diseases from across the UK and runs multidisciplinary clinics dedicated to neuropsychiatric lupus, lupus nephritis and myositis, working closely with neurologists, renal physicians and specialist nurses.
Dr Arvind Kaul is a leading consultant rheumatologist with a strong interest in lupus and other connective tissues diseases, particularly their effect on cardiovascular disease. Dr. Kaul has a strong interest in lupus and other connective tissue diseases particularly their effect on cardiovascular disease as well as the immunological links between skin and joint disorders.
Dr Arvind Kaul studied Medicine at St. Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Hospitals and obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of London investigating inflammation and vascular biology.
He has had extensive experience as a Rheumatologist at several centres in London including the Lupus Unit at St. Thomas’ Hospital.
Dr Patrick Gordon is a Consultant Rheumatologist with over 20 years’ experience in rheumatology and general medicine and has gained experience in the broad range of rheumatological disease, from mechanical joint disease such as Sjögren to systemic lupus erythematosus.
He runs the lupus service there and has a special interest in mixed connective tissue disease and lung disease in lupus and myositis. He has published extensively and continues to research this field.
He set up the connective tissue disease service which is now a Specialised NHS England centre serving over 1,000 people with Myositis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic sclerosis, mixed connective tissue disease, Sjögren’s, undifferentiated connective tissue disease and vasculitis.
His caring approach was recognised when he won ‘patient’s choice’ at the inception year of the King’s Stars awards in 2018.
Dr Colin Tench worked as a Consultant Rheumatologist and General Physician at St Mary’s Hospital in London where he specialised in the treatment of lupus whilst running a weekly lupus outpatient clinic. He qualified from Cambridge University Medical School and has trained at The Royal London Hospital, University College London Hospitals and the Hammersmith Hospital.
His specialist interests include the treatment of Systemic lupus erythematosus, the management of osteoarthritis and soft tissue rheumatism. His research interests include fatigue in Lupus and his MD thesis investigated the effects of aerobic exercise on fatigue and sleep quality in Lupus.
Professor Graham Hughes trained and qualified at The London Hospital. Following this, Professor Hughes held a Postgraduate Fellowship in New York at the Rheumatology & Lupus Centre of Dr Charles Christian. He then dedicated his time to set up a London lupus clinic and lupus pregnancy clinic within Hammersmith Hospital. In 1985 he transferred with his team to St Thomas’ Hospital, London, where he established the Louise Coote Lupus Unit, Europe’s first ‘dedicated’ lupus clinic.
Lupus, which was at a time, an awful and fatal disease which no one really understood. With thanks to Professor Hughes and his knowledgeable team, years of research has now allowed patients to lead a normal life whilst living with Lupus.
In 1983 Graham Hughes described the ‘antiphospholipid syndrome’ – now known as Hughes syndrome. In 1992, Professor Hughes and his team received the highest award in international rheumatology, the ILAR prize (International League Against Rheumatism) for their work in this field.
Professor Hughes is Founder and Editor of the international journal ‘LUPUS’ and is on the Editorial Board of over 30 Medical Journals. Professor Hughes has published over 900 papers and many books on his research on Lupus and due to this he is a member of the American Lupus Hall of Fame, awarded Doctor Honoris Causa and President of the Lupus UK charity.
London Lupus & Rheumatology Centre
The London Lupus Centre