I am a clinician scientist with a passion for translational research, driven by curiosity and the potential to address unmet clinical needs. For the past 25 years I have worked with monoclonal antibodies and related therapeutics. My achievements have included target identification, the engineering of novel therapeutics, and their application in first-into man studies. My disease focus has been inflammatory disease, particularly rheumatic disease. Thus, over the past 25 years I have led a team that has developed and tested - in several first-in-human studies - novel therapeutic drugs and paradigms designed to switch off unwanted immune responses. In Newcastle I have established a highly successful rheumatology team, embracing basic science through to human translation (awarded European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) Centre of Excellence status in 2010, 2015 and 2020). My team is currently developing a cellular therapy designed to 'switch off' unwanted immune responses. I am also Associate Medical Director for Research at Newcastle Hospitals. I am passionate about the benefits to patients of research participation, which is the overarching theme of the Newcastle Hospitals clinical research strategy, which we launched in September 2021. In addition, as research lead for Newcastle Health Innovation Partners, my focus is catalysing research between our partners, which include Newcastle Hospitals; Newcastle University; Newcastle City Council; Cumbria, Northumberland Tyne and Wear Mental Health Trust; and the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria. A critical element is to ensure research discoveries are appropriately evaluated and adopted, ultimately improving the health and wealth of the regional population and beyond.I recently became a Trustee and Non-Executive Director of Versus Arthritis, the UK's premier charity for people with arthritis. This provides a unique opportunity to join a brilliant team, to influence and operationalise the charity's strategy not only in terms of the research agenda but also advocacy and support for sufferers across the spectrum of rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders. I'm also really pleased to be able to give something back to the charity that has funded much of my team's research over the past 20 years. https://www.versusarthritis.org/