Facing the Hydra: Multifactorial considerations and management of chronic pain in rheumatology

Professor Peter C Taylor holds the Norman Collisson chair of musculoskeletal sciences at the University of Oxford and is a fellow of St Peter’s College Oxford. He is head of experimental rheumatology at the Botnar Research Centre within the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences. He studied pre-clinical medical sciences at Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge and his first degree was Batchelor of Arts (Cantab) Physiology in 1982. He subsequently studied clinical medicine at the University of Oxford and graduated in 1985 with Batchelor of Medicine and Batchelor of Surgery degrees. He was awarded a PhD in 1996 from the University of London for research on the pathogenesis of arthritis and was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2000 and a distinguished member of the British Society for Rheumatology in 2016.

Professor Taylor has clinical interests in inflammatory arthritis and research interests in patient reported outcomes, imaging outcome measures and targeted therapies, with over 25 years of experience in clinical trial design and international leadership in studies of biologic and small molecular therapies in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis including the earliest seminal trails of anti-TNF and anti-IL-6 receptor therapy.

Professor Richard Keen qualified from St Mary’s Hospital, London, and after general professional training he started specialist training in Rheumatology, working at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals. During this time, he was awarded his PhD studying the genetic epidemiology of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Professor Keen was appointed as Director of the Centre for Metabolic Bone Disease in 1999 at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, UK. He leads a clinical research team that cares for patients with osteoporosis and other rare metabolic bone disorders.  

Dr Alan Hakim is a Rheumatologist at The Wellington Hospital, HCA Healthcare. He previously practiced in Rheumatology and Acute Medicine at Barts Health, London. After graduating from Cambridge University, Dr Hakim trained at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and was an Arthritis Research Clinic Fellow at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and an honorary Associate Professor in Medicine, School of Medicine, Hershey, PennState, USA. Previous honorary academic positions include UCLH, Guy’s and St Thomas’, and Queen Mary University, London.

Dr Hakim is an experienced medical leader and hospital director at executive level having been service lead in Rheumatology, Acute Medicine, and Accident and Emergency, and a Trust Director in strategy and business improvement. He was also a board member for 5 years with CWHHE clinical commissioning group. With over 100 original research and review papers on joint hypermobility and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS), Dr Hakim has also been a guest editor for the American Journal of Medical Genetics, and edited 5 books including “Hypermobility, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Pain” and the UK and USA editions of the “Oxford Handbook of Rheumatology”. He leads an ongoing large education and research portfolio.

Dr Hakim works closely with the Ehlers-Danlos Society and the international consortium on the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders, is a member of the Medical and Scientific Board for the Society, and serves on the Steering Committee for the consortium as chair of the Hypermobile EDS/HSD Committee. He is the Director of Education at the Society, and Lead for their clinical education and support programme, EDS ECHO. In 2019 the EDS and HSD international community awarded Dr Hakim the Ehlers-Danlos Society ‘Clinician of the Year’ award for contribution to the care of persons with EDS and HSD.

Dr Nicholas Shenker obtained his Master of Arts from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University and completed his medical studies at St John’s College, Oxford University in 1996. He trained in Rheumatology in North London with his PhD studies at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Disease in Bath, UK.

Dr Shenker is a founding member and current Chair of the CRPS-UK Network as well as Chair of the National Institute for Health Research expert panel for digital technology for pain. He has been Lead Clinician in Cambridge for 10 years and is Chair of the British Society for Rheumatology musculoskeletal pain special interest group. He has a clinical interest in managing patients with complex pain with a British Society for Rheumatology Innovation Award for his role in the Bath complex regional pain syndrome service. His clinical research interests include the role of body scheme changes in predicting persistent pain post-trauma.