The annual meeting serves as the only combined regional meeting across the Northern and Yorkshire regions. Supported by eight pharmaceutical companies as sponsors - abbvie, Alfasigma, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Vifor, Eli Lily, and UCB, it is a popular event that includes presentations of the latest clinical and translational research, as well as quality improvement projects, by clinical trainees and early career translational scientists. In addition to supporting healthcare professionals from our region to exchange knowledge, it provides a welcome opportunity for discussion and networking, including a lunchtime poster tour.
145 Rheumatology trainees, consultants, research staff, research students and Allied Health Professionals working within Rheumatology across both regions presented case studies, posters and research abstracts to fellow delegates and colleagues.
"The quality of abstracts, case presentations and posters from the trainees was superb. I hope that they enjoyed a friendly and supportive environment to develop their skills and interest in rheumatology", said Dr Jonathan Heaney, Consultant Rheumatologist at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.
We were delighted to welcome keynote speaker Professor Yanick Crow, speaking on the topic of Type I Interferonopathies, Dr Simon Meggitt presenting ‘The Skin in Connective Tissue Disease’ and Professor Ed Vital talking about ‘Future Horizons in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus’. Each 40-minute talk provided fascinating and timely updates on these topics as well as insight into presenters’ own research journeys, inspiring and engaging delegates during Q&A sessions thereafter.
The meeting included a prize award for the best Case Report, Clinical Science and Translational Science abstracts. This year’s “Jewels” were Najla Elndari and co-authors with a case series on Amyopathic dermatomyositis, Chung Mun Alice Lin and co-authors with a study determining the validity of the Southend GCA predictive score (SGCAPS) in a Northeast centre cohort, and Sana Sharrack and co-authors with a study entitled ‘Elevated serum peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) levels in anti-CCP antibody positive at-risk individuals with arthralgia who progress to rheumatoid arthritis’. Presenters received a prize at the end of the day.
“A huge thank you to the organisers and speakers at this year’s Annual Combined Northern and Yorkshire Rheumatology Meeting. It was an incredibly rich day, filled with inspiring talks that ranged from those delivered by world-renowned experts that made us rethink our understanding of common (and rare) rheumatological diseases, to those delivered by fellow emerging researchers and clinicians who shared their novel findings and pearls of wisdom. I definitely left feeling proud to be representing Rheumatology in the North!” - Dr Sana Sharrack, NIHR Leeds BRC Clinical Doctoral Fellow
Nine researchers and PhD students from the Musculoskeletal Disease and Inflammation Medicine Research Theme attended, representing the NIHR Newcastle BRC. Musculoskeletal and Inflammation Theme Co-lead and co-convener Dr Arthur Pratt chaired several sessions, co-led poster tours, PhD students Jack Harrison and Anthony McLean presented their research abstracts, and Dr Faye Cooles, Dr Amanda Thomson, Dr James Stanway, Dr Joe Berry, Amy Anderson and PhD student Imogen Wilson attended the meeting as delegates.