Our Team

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Our Team *

Meet the steering committee members

  • Dr William Tillett (Chair)

    Dr William Tillett is an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD), Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences and Centre for Therapeutic Innovation at the University of Bath. His work focuses on precision care in psoriatic arthritis—integrating clinical, radiographic, and patient-reported assessments to enable earlier detection and more effective treatment strategies.

    He is Chief Investigator for a portfolio of clinical and commercial studies, including the Bath Psoriatic Arthritis Biobank. He has collaborated on the design and delivery of numerous Phase III–IV drug-development and treatment-strategy trials. Dr Tillett chairs the British Consortium for Psoriatic Arthritis (Brit-PACT), serves on the GRAPPA steering committee, and chairs the peripheral-arthritis domain for the 2025 GRAPPA treatment-recommendations update. He co-chaired the 2023 BSR PsA biologics guidelines, is European chair of the OMERACT PsA working group, sits on the Journal of Rheumatology editorial board, and served on the EULAR taskforce to strengthen meaningful patient involvement.

    With a vision for building something meaningful, our founder brings a blend of big-picture thinking and hands-on experience.
    They set the tone for everything we do.

  • Julie Begum

    Julie Begum is the cross site lead clinical nurse specialist for the Rheumatology department at Bedfordshire Hospital NHs Trust

    She qualified as a nurses in 2002 and worked in elderly care, acute medicine and emergency care before taking up a sister’s post on a general medical ward. She began her career in Rheumatology as a clinical nurse specialist in 2008 and took an interest in patients with early inflammatory arthritis. Her other interests include health promotion and psoriatic arthritis.

    She undertook and obtained her independent nurse prescribing qualification in 2015. She completed her Msc in Advanced Clinical Practice in May 2023

    Her passion in the last few years has been the education of new Rheumatology nurses. She led the BSR project on developing online e-learning resources for new rheumatology nurses, worked as part of the working group to develop the RCN rheumatology nurse competency framework and now runs her own school of nursing (Class Rheum) for new rheumatology nurses and AHPs.

    She is the past chair of the RCN Rheumatology forum, past BSR MDT council representative for nurses in the East of England, past co-opted BSR Heberden committee member , and Past NRAS nurse advisor.

  • Dr James Bluett

    Dr James Bluett (MBBS, MRes, MSc, PhD) is a senior clinical lecturer and honorary consultant in rheumatology at the University of Manchester. James has a specialist interest in interventions to improve treatment response in inflammatory arthritis and is an experienced chief investigator. In 2016 he completed his PhD investigating methotrexate adherence in rheumatoid arthritis and the genetics of methotrexate-pneumonitis. He oversees a large multi-centre observational psoriatic arthritis study (OUTPASS). He has presented his research at national and international conferences and has collaborated internationally.

  • Dr Ashley Elliott

    I am a Consultant Rheumatologist at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and clinical academic at Queen’s University Belfast. I have always had a strong interest in Psoriatic Disease. Through my work with GRAPPA I have been part of both treatment guideline groups for the management of enthesitis in psoriatic arthritis and also ultrasound study groups trying to come up with better answers for patients living with psoriatic arthritis. As a trainee I helped to establish our tight control PsA clinic in Belfast and then developed a research protocol to assess patients with PsA. This formed the basis of my PhD completed in 2023 that was entitled ‘Evaluating Ultrasound Confirmed enthesitis as a predictive marker of response to biologic therapy in Psoriatic Arthritis’ linking data from clinical, imaging and laboratory analysis at Queen’s University Belfast. The work was supported by grants from the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Alliance, BMA and GRAPPA and I was awarded the young investigator of the year award at the Irish Society for Rheumatology annual meeting in 2022.

    I am keen to provide the best care for our patients in Northern Ireland and link our local research infrastructure with international experts centres across the British Isles. I have gained experience sitting on national committees for BSR including being both the NI representative on the trainee committee and on the Clinical Affairs Committee. I am currently a member of the Digital Learning Board committee at BSR. I would like to enhance research links specifically for PsA at a national level and deliver better outcomes for our patients by being a part of the Brit-PACT steering committee and help to shape its future.

  • Dr Nicola Gullick

    Nicola Gullick studied medicine at the University of Nottingham. She completed general medical training in the West Midlands and trained in Rheumatology in South London.

    She completed a PhD under the supervision of Leonie Taams and Bruce Kirkham, investigating relationships between MRI and power Doppler ultrasound and the presence of cytokine (including interleukin-17) producing cells in synovial fluid and tissue from patients with inflammatory arthritis.

    Nicola was an NIHR Clinical Lecturer at King’s College London before becoming a Consultant Rheumatologist at King’s College Hospital, where she ran the Psoriatic Arthritis service for 5 years.

    Nicola is now a Consultant Rheumatologist at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire and is the department lead for R&D, biologic therapies, psoriatic arthritis.

  • Prof Pauline Ho

    Professor Pauline Ho received her undergraduate medical degree from the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff with Honours (first class), with an intercalated degree in Biochemistry (funded by Medical Research Council). Subsequently completed specialist training in Rheumatology in the Northwest of England. During the specialist training, she completed a Masters in Science degree in Clinical Rheumatology and a PhD investigating the genetics of Psoriatic Arthritis at The University of Manchester (funded by the Clinical Research Training Fellowship from the Medical Research Council). Since the end of 2007, she has worked as a Consultant Rheumatologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary at the Kellgren Centre for Rheumatology which is a Lupus Centre of Excellence. She is the research lead in the department and the musculoskeletal ultrasound lead for the Northwest of England and has a specialist interest in spondyloarthropathies. In 2023, she was made an Honorary Professor within the Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health at The University of Manchester having been awarded a Manchester Academic Health Science Centre Clinical Chair.

  • Dr Ryan Hum (Trainee Representative)

    Ryan is currently a Wellcome Trust 4ward North Clinical PhD Fellow and Speciality Registrar in Rheumatology and Internal Medicine within the Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, The University of Manchester.

    His PhD title is "An integrated single cell and spatial transcriptomic study of synovial inflammation in psoriatic arthritis".

    His research is funded through grants and fellowships awarded by the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR), the British Psoriatic Arthritis Consortium (BritPACT), the National Psoriasis Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research Manchester Biomedical Research Centre.

  • Dr Muhamad Jasim

    Rheumatology and Acute Medical Consultant at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust where he leads the Psoriatic Arthritis Treat to Target service at the trust. He has developed an innovative  fast track PsA one stop shop clinic pathway with integration of musculoskeletal ultrasound.  Muhamad previously completed a musculoskeletal ultrasound fellowship scanning patients with known psoriasis but no diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis .  He has twice been awarded with Brit-PACT clinician prize. 

    Muhamad completed his medicine degree as well as a Masters in Medical Ethics and Law at Keele University. He went onto train in general medicine and rheumatology in the West Midlands.  He is passionate about helping improve patient care especially for those suffering with Psoriatic arthritis. 

  • Andy Kelly

    Being treated for psoriasis, PSA and being a chartered physiotherapist has given me a unique perspective into the role of both patient and professional in the management of the conditions. A recent patient partner role involvement in the James Lind PSP for the top 10 research priorities for PSA has enabled me to become more involved in a collaborative approach to help guide developments for management and research.

  • Dr Sandeep Mukherjee

    Sandeep Mukherjee MBBS, MRCP (Rheum), MA (Med Ed), FRCP is a consultant rheumatologist at the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. He has a special interest in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and has set up a weekly PsA clinic at Christchurch Hospital. In addition, with the help of a Health Education England (Wessex) Quality Improvement fellowship, he and his team have successfully implemented iPad-based assessments in this clinic aiming for Minimal Disease Activity (MDA) as well as initiated a quarterly combined clinic with the dermatologists.

    He has also set up the Wessex Psoriatic Disease Network to facilitate collaborative working between the dermatologists and rheumatologists in the region. He has earnestly contributed to Brit-PACT’s JLA Priority Setting Partnership for PsA and has been a member of the GRAPPA 2021 treatment recommendations working group on nail disease.
    Sandeep is actively involved in research and is the PI for the BSR-PsA study. He also has a Masters in Medical Education and provides educational supervision to the specialty trainees in rheumatology.

  • Prof Jon Packham

    Jon Packham BM, FRCP, DM is currently honorary Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology at Keele University, Stoke-on-Trent UK and Consultant Rheumatologist at the Haywood Hospital for the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership (SSoTP) NHS Trust, with specialist interests in spondyloarthropathy and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

    Previous and current appointments include: member of the Heberden Committee at the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR), member of BSR Council, West Midlands regional BSR chair, vice chair for the BSR biologics registries subcommittee, member of the National Integrated Care working group, medical advisor for JIA to National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, member of NICE guideline development groups ‘Spondyloarthropathies’ and ‘Depression in chronic disease’, BSR national gout audit co-lead, secretary for the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology (BSPAR) and rheumatology regional specialist advisor for the Royal College of Physicians. 

    Dr Packham is a member of Arthritis Research UK Spondyloarthropathy clinical studies group and founder member of BritPACT. He is associate medical director of research for SSoTP NHS trust and an active member of the Keele Haywood Rheumatology Academic Group, working closely with the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre at Keele University.

    Current and past research: psychological outcomes in inflammatory arthritis, quality of life and fatigue in spondyloarthropathy, long term outcomes in juvenile arthritis, treatment paradigms for psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthropathy, biomarkers for disease outcome in inflammatory arthritis and community based studies of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

  • Dr Carmel Stober

    Dr Carmel Stober is a Consultant Rheumatologist at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where she leads the Psoriatic Arthritis service and co-leads the Spondyloarthritis service. She works collaboratively with colleagues in Dermatology & Gastroenterology to optimise therapeutic decisions for patients. Her background in basic science, specifically Immunology, has fostered a strong enthusiasm for precision medicine. A former member of the GRAPPA steering committee, Dr Stober has undertaken basic research in psoriatic arthritis and has served as principal investigator in several clinical studies. Her overarching aim is to optimise patient outcomes and therapeutic decisions according to individual disease domains and patient preferences.