Always learn something new at BRITSpA's Annual Scientific Meetings!
The seventh BRITSpA Annual Scientific Meeting will take place on 22nd September 2021. In view of the restrictions imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the success of our first virtual meeting in 2020, the plan is to repeat this year with a virtual meeting to take place live from 13:35 to 17:00 pm (UK time). We have prepared a fantastic programme which sees the return of the very popular Abstract Competition and a virtual poster session together with key lectures and interactive Q&A sessions. New this year is the creation of the "Andrew Keat Lecture" which will be a state of the art presentation by a world known leader in SpA and which aims to recognize their significant contribution to the field. This lecture is a recognition to the achievements by our friend and BRITSpA's Inaugural Chair, Dr Andrew Keat, who will be in attendance to enjoy the first 2021 offering. The 2021 e-meeting will be chaired by Gareth Jones and Steven Zhao. CPD accreditation will be available to all delegates and speakers.
Dale Webb has been CEO of NASS since November 2017. He studied Music and English as an undergraduate at the University of Aberystwyth, followed by an MSc and then PhD in Health Policy at the University of Southampton, entitled ‘Evaluation in a Policy Environment: Approaches to the evaluation of complex health policy pilots in the UK from 1994 to 2004’.
Dale worked in public health in the 1990s at Salisbury Health Authority and Wessex Regional Health Authority. He then joined the University of Southampton’s Institute of Public Health Medicine where he undertook numerous national evaluations of policy interventions for the English and Scottish Departments of Health.
Since 2006 Dale has worked for charitable organisations, first as Director of Strategy and Evaluation at the Health Foundation, then as Director of Research and Information at the Stroke Association.
Philip Helliwell is Professor of Clinical Rheumatology at the University of Leeds, UK, and Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He is a member of ASAS (Assessment of Spondyloarthropathy Society) and co-founder and President of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis (GRAPPA). He established and led the CASPAR study for classification of psoriatic arthritis. He has worked with GRAPPA in developing single and composite outcome measures in psoriatic arthritis and completed the first treat to target strategy study (TICOPA) in early psoriatic arthritis.
Professor Helliwell is co-founder and co-lead for the Bradford (University) Diploma in Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Medicine and is an active member of the Bradford and Airedale Musculoskeletal Alliance, a tier 2 service provided to GPs in the designated geographical area. He is co-founder of the Leeds foot and ankle studies group and has contributed to several guidelines on management of foot and ankle problems in the UK. Professor Helliwell has published over 300 peer reviewed papers.
Robert Landewé is a Professor of Rheumatology at the Academic Medical Center / University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and is Chair of the department of rheumatology at Zuyderland Medical Center Heerlen, The Netherlands. Professor Landewé is involved in outcome research and epidemiological research in the field of rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis and other rheumatic & musculoskeletal manifestations. He has extensive experience in the design and analysis of clinical trials with a special interest in medical statistics and has led many EULAR recommendation initiatives on the management of systemic sclerosis, early arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, and recently on the management of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases.
Professor Landewé is a previous executive committee member of OMERACT, board member and past-president of the Assessment in Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS), previous executive board member of the Dutch Society of Rheumatology (responsible for quality of care issues), executive board member of the METEOR foundation (monitoring in rheumatology) and incoming chair of the Quality of Care committee of EULAR. He was the scientific chair of EULAR 2018 in Amsterdam.
Professor Landewé has authored or co-authored more than 600 articles and many book chapters covering a variety of topics,with an emphasis on clinical epidemiology, methodology, statistics and guideline development (‘meta-research’).