Gabriel Panayi

cD, MD, FRCP Consultant Rheumatologist

After six years as NRAS Chief Medical Advisor Professor Panayi has very kindly agreed to become an NRAS Patron.

He has worked tirelessly on our behalf throughout this period and has been a staunch supporter of the charity. We are delighted that he has agreed to take up this new role and look forward to working with him in the future. 

A few words from Professor Panayi:

“I am honoured, proud and very happy to become a Patron of NRAS joining Theresa May MP who has given her time and energy so unstintingly to the Society. I have spent a professional lifetime as an academic rheumatologist. As arc Professor of Rheumatology I had three important functions: the provision of clinical rheumatology to patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis; the teaching of medical students, trainee rheumatologists and members of professions allied to rheumatology (nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists); and research into the mechanisms of inflammation that cause joint damage with the resultant problems of pain, disability, loss of work and social isolation of patients. All three of these activities are clearly intertwined for I have always felt that clinical practice focuses one’s attention on the patients and their problems and is thus a powerful force directing the type of research to be done. Furthermore, the outcome of research, if not applied back in the form of new treatments in the clinic and if not transmitted to future practitioners of rheumatology, is sterile. 

However, despite these endeavours I have always felt that there was a fourth ingredient missing from my professional endeavours. The missing ingredient was the political dimension of patient power. Political activities by doctors on behalf of their patients can always be misinterpreted as promotion of professional self-interest. No such jaundiced viewpoint can be expressed, at least openly, when patients are using political means to achieve more funding and thus better treatment, for in health care, just as in other spheres of life, competition for resources is a reality. However, although there were many organisations promoting the interests of patients with rheumatic diseases there was no organisation that specifically campaigned for those with rheumatoid arthritis. This was a curious and unexplained gap. I could not see how this gap could be filled until I met Ailsa Bosworth. We hit it off from the very beginning. As we know, she took on the Herculean task of organising NRAS. And as we know, she has made it into a successful, truly national charity that is recognised internationally. I have been very happy to support all the activities of NRAS but I have been particularly happy to answer the questions and the worries of patients directed at me via their emails as NRAS National Medical Adviser.

Now, in my new capacity as Patron, I will of course continue this support. Indeed, as Professor Emeritus of Rheumatology at King’s College London, I have more time and will hopefully contribute even more.”