Links to other EMEUNET Sub-Committee membership posts:
Welcome to the EMEUNET Committee and Sub-Commitees issue
Experienced EMEUNET Sub-Committee members
Farewell to EMEUNET Sub-Committee members
Lisa Christ, MD
Germany/Switzerland
Lisa is a physician and clinical scientist at the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Inselspital, University Hospital, in Bern, Switzerland. Her research interests include vasculitis, in particular giant cell arteritis, cancer immunology and Sjögren’s disease.
She conducted a proof-of-concept study in giant cell arteritis, the GUSTO trial, and translational research on biomarkers. She is a founding member of the Vasculitis Association Switzerland (VASAS). She is a member of the EMEUNET Visibility and Global Affairs Subcommittee.
lisa.christ@insel.ch
Claudia Cobilinschi, MD, PhD
Romania
Claudia is a specialist in Rheumatology working in the Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology in Sfânta Maria Clinical Hospital, in Bucharest. She combines clinical activities with teaching as an assistant lecturer at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy. She presented her doctoral thesis in the field of spondyloarthritis and immunogenicity. Claudia actively attended numerous international conferences and workshops, while being involved in research.
Her latest interest is in body composition techniques in patients with autoinflammatory diseases, being a member of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN). She is also involved in the Romanian Society of Rheumatology (SRR), EUSTAR Young Investigator Group and Autoinflammatory Disease Alliance AIDA Network. Claudia is a new member of the Country Liaison Sub-Committee.
klausini_vs@yahoo.com
Jelena Čolić, MD, PhD
Serbia
Jelena is an internal medicine specialist and trainee in rheumatology at the Institute of Rheumatology in Belgrade. She is being elected to the position of teaching assistant at the School of Medicine University of Belgrade. In 2023 she defended her PhD thesis in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, focused on digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis. Her primary interests include systemic sclerosis, endothelial dysfunction, hemostasis disturbance, microparticles, immunology, and therapy strategies.
Jelena is a member of the Serbian national rheumatology society (RAS), EUSTAR YIG member, and PhD representative at the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Medicine University of Belgrade. She was several times Secretary of the organizing committee and secretary of the Scientific Committee of the Annual Serbian Congress of Rheumatologists. She is a social media coordinator for both EUSTAR and RAS. Jelena is the EMEUNET Country Liaison for Serbia and is a member of the Peer-Mentoring Sub-Committee.
jcolicster@gmail.com
Rositsa Dacheva, MD
Bulgaria
Rositsa is a consultant rheumatologist. She graduated from the Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria in 2013. In 2020 she completed her rheumatology residency in the Department of Rheumatology in UMHAT “St. Ivan Rilski” in Sofia.
Her main interests include inflammatory arthritis, interstitial lung disease, systemic sclerosis and musculoskeletal ultrasound. Rositsa is the Country Liaison for Bulgaria. She is a member of the Newsletter Sub-Committee.
rdacheva@gmail.com
Bohdana Doskaliuk, MD
Ukraine
Bohdana is a PhD fellow at Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, focusing her research on pulmonary involvement in systemic sclerosis and its potential correction. Her primary scientific interests revolve around the intricate relationship between systemic autoimmune disorders and pulmonary involvement. Bohdana actively contributes also as a reviewer and editor. In 2019 she received Publons Peer Review Award in Clinical Medicine.
Bohdana serves as an Associate Editor for Rheumatology International and is a member of the Editorial Board for Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease. She is also a member of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and European Respiratory Society (ERS). Bohdana is a Subcommittee member of EMEUNET and participates in Country Liaison Sub-Committee.
doskaliuk_bo@ifnmu.edu.ua
Sarah Dyball, MBBS, MRCP
UK
Sarah is an MRC clinical research fellow at the University of Manchester and a rheumatology registrar at the Kellgren Centre for Rheumatology. She has a research interest in stratified medicine and targeted therapeutics in systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Sarah is a member of the Peer Mentoring Sub-Committee.
s.dyball@doctors.org.uk
Olivier Fakih, MD, MPH
France
Olivier is a rheumatology resident at the Department of Rheumatology of Besançon University Hospital in France. His research interests include the epidemiology of inflammatory rheumatic diseases, in particular mortality and comorbidities in spondyloarthritis. Olivier is a member of the French Society of Rheumatology and the society’s young rheumatologists section (REF). He is a member of the EMEUNET Social Media Sub-Committee.
ofakih@chu-besancon.fr
Bayram Farisogullari, MD
Turkey
Bayram is a rheumatologist in Turkey and a clinical research fellow at the University College London (UCL) in the UK. Main clinical interests of Bayram include inflammatory arthritis, particularly spondylarthritis (SpA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), autoinflammatory diseases, and ultrasound and injection. Furthermore, his main research interests are remission and imaging in SpA, biologic treatment in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), imaging and fatigue in RMDs.
Bayram is also an ASAS (Assessment of Spondylarthritis International Society) fellow to conduct MRI assessment in the ASAS-MRI cohort and a researcher of Versus Arthritis (UK) to establish fatigue evaluation in RMDs. Bayram is a member of the EMEUNET Social Media Sub-Committee.
bayramfarisogullari@gmail.com
Alejandro Gómez-Gomez, MD
Spain
Alejandro is a rheumatologist at Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona. He was trained as a resident at Hospital Clínico San Carlos and later worked as a rheumatologist at Infanta Sofía Hospital, both located in Madrid. His current clinical and research activities are primarily focused on Sjögren’s Syndrome and the application of omics in immunomediated diseases. Other areas of clinical and research interest include crystal-induced arthritis and uveitis. In fact, he is close to presenting his thesis on the immunosuppressive treatment of non-infectious uveitis.
He has served as a board member in the Society of Rheumatology of the Community of Madrid and is currently one of the coordinators of the Crystal-Induced Arthritis Study Group within the Spanish Society of Rheumatology. He is a member of the Social Media Sub-Committee.
agomezreuma@gmail.com
Rebecca Hasseli, MD
Germany
Rebecca is a rheumatologist and deputy head of the Section of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at University Hospital Münster, Germany. She is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Münster and the Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany. She initiated and coordinated the German COVID-19 registry for patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (www.COVID19-Rheuma.de). In addition to COVID-19, her main interests include infectious diseases associated with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, vaccinations, inflammatory arthritides, systemic sclerosis and neuropathies in inflammatory rheumatic diseases.
Rebecca is a member of the German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh) and the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM), a board member of the German Myositis Network (Myositis-Netz e.V.) and a lecturer in capillaroscopy. She is the EMEUNET Country Liaison for Germany and a member of the Social Media Sub-Committee.
hasseli@rheumathek.de
Shalaleh Karkon
Canada, Ireland
Shalaleh Karkon is a PhD researcher in Trinity College Dublin. She is a psychologist by training, however; she is currently in the occupational therapy department focusing on non-pharmacological interventions and self-management strategies for individuals with inflammatory arthritis. Her major interest includes patient participation and patient – health care provider discussions.
She is currently a member of Irish Psychological Association (PSI), Association of Occupational Therapist Ireland (AOTI) and as part of her role she sits in the Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Disorders Advisory Group, Mental Health Advisory Group and AOTI conference planning committee. Shalaleh is also a EMEUNET Visibility and Global Affairs Sub-Committee member.
karkons@tcd.ie
Victoria Konzett, MD
Austria
Victoria is a physician researcher and PhD fellow at the Division of Rheumatology of the Medical University of Vienna, focusing mainly on clinical and translational research in inflammatory rheumatic diseases, especially rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis (RA, PsA). She is doing her PhD in medical informatics and statics, with the aim of applying tools of conventional statistics and modern data science to different fields of outcomes research and epidemiology in RA and PsA research. In a translational research project, she further works on building a PsA at risk cohort to forward understanding of factors and mechanisms that drive the transition from psoriasis to psoriatic arthritis.
Victoria is an active member of the young division’s working group of the Austrian Society of Rheumatology (JOEGR). She is a member of the EMEUNET Newsletter Sub-Committee.
victoria.konzett@meduniwien.ac.at
Stephanie Ling MBChB, MRes, PhD, MRCP (UK)
UK
Steph is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, carrying out her research at the University of Manchester, and undertaking her rheumatology and general internal medicine training in Manchester, UK. Her research interests are focused on analysis of multi-omics methods to define predictors of treatment response in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as pharmacological modelling and simulation.
She is a member of the British Society for Rheumatology. She is currently an author for the EULAR Online Course on Rheumatic Diseases. Steph is a member of the EMEUNET Newsletter Sub-Committee.
Clementina López-Medina, MD, PhD
Spain
Clementina is a Rheumatologist at the Department of Rheumatology of the University Hospital Reina Sofía from Córdoba, and a post-doctoral researcher at the Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba (IMIBIC), Spain. In 2018, she finished her PhD on comorbidities in Spondyloarthritis, and then she spent 3 years as a post-doctoral fellow at the Cochin Hospital in Paris (France).
Her major interests include epidemiology and real world data in Spondyloarthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis. Clementina is a member of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology (SER), Spanish group of interest in Spondyloarthritis (GRESSER) and a full member of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS). Clementina is a member of the EMEUNET Social Media Sub-Committee.
clementinalopezmedina@gmail.com
Cristina Macía-Villa, MD, PhD
Spain
Cristina is a clinical rheumatologist at the Department of Rheumatology of the Ramón y Cajal Universitary Hospital in Madrid, Spain. In 2021 she finished her PhD on ultrasound in psoriatic arthritis. Her main interests include psoriatic disease and spondyloarthritis.
Cristina is the treasurer of the Spanish Rheumatology Society (SER), and a member of the Young-GRAPPA group. Since 2023 she is a member of the EMEUNET Country Liaison Sub-Committee.
ccmacia@gmail.com
Renske Meijer, MD
The Netherlands
Renske is a Rheumatology trainee at the rheumatology department of Erasmus medical centre Rotterdam. Aside from working as a medical doctor, she is engaged in quality control for the educational program for rheumatology in the Netherlands. This includes discussing the curriculum and visiting hospitals to evaluate their local programs.
After medical school, she worked in Emergency Rooms. After a short period of 3 months in Namibia, working as a first responder on a farm, she started her way to rheumatology. First, she worked for the Internal medicine wards in a small hospital in Nijmegen and after that she moved to Rotterdam to start the residency. Renske is part of the Social Media EMEUNET Sub-Committee.
lja.renskemeijer@gmail.com
Wan Lin Ng, MB BCh BAO
Ireland
Wan Lin is a final year rheumatology trainee in Ireland. She is a recipient of the Strategic Academic Recruitment (StAR) Doctor of Medicine (MD) scholarship from RCSI and the Irish Society for Rheumatology (ISR) Rheumatology Patient Initiative Fund. Her clinical interests include connective tissue disease and musculoskeletal ultrasound.
Wan Lin is the lead representative for rheumatology trainees in Ireland, a board member of the Irish Society for Rheumatology and a Licentiate member of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. Wan Lin is part of the EMEUNET Peer Mentoring Sub-Committee.
wanlin_ng@yahoo.com
Alexandros Panagiotopoulos, MD, MSc, PhD candidate
Greece
Alexandros is a resident in rheumatology at the First Department of Propaedeutic Internal Medicine of Laiko Hospital in Athens and a PhD candidate of the Medical University of Athens. In 2022 he finalized his MSc on Rheumatology-Musculoskeletal Health, with a thesis on Health-Related Quality of Life in patients with ANCA vasculitides. His current research area of PhD is Long-term Outcomes in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. His major interests include infections, cardiovascular risk and comorbidities in inflammatory rheumatic diseases.
Alexandros is a member of Greek Society of Rheumatology (ERE), social media ambassador of Mediterranean Journal of Rheumatology (MJR). He is a member of the Country Liaison Sub-Committee.
alej.panagiotopoulos@gmail.com
Valentina Pucino, MD, PhD
Italy, UK
Valentina is a Consultant in Clinical Immunology and Clinical Research Fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford. She obtained her PhD in 2019 supported by the Versus Arthritis – Clinical Research Fellowship at the William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). In 2022 She joined the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at University of Oxford. Her research focuses at assessing the role of immunometabolism in the pathogenesis of immune mediated inflammatory disorders (RA, SpA, Sjogren) for the identification of new biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets.
She is Associate Editor for Frontiers Immunology and Inflammation (Springer-Nature). Valentina is a member of the British Society of Immunology, British Society of Rheumatology, European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI). She is a member of the Social Media Sub-Committee.
valentina.pucino@gmail.com
Ana Isabel Rebollo-Giménez, MD
Spain, Italy
Ana is a clinical and research Pediatric Rheumatology Fellow at Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy and a PhD student at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid , Madrid, Spain. Her research revolves around juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis and paediatric musculoskeletal ultrasound.
Her main clinical interest is paediatric musculoskeletal ultrasound in juvenile idiopathic arthritis. She also participates in the ongoing projects of the International Paediatric Rheumatology Trials Organisation (PRINTO). Ana is part of EMERGE Global Affairs and a member of the EMEUNET Newsletter Sub-Committee.
ana.rebollogimenez@gmail.com
Jan Henrik Schirmer, MD, PhD
Germany
Jan is a rheumatology consultant and clinician scientist at the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology of the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel. His major interests include systemic vasculitis, hypereosinophilia and the relationship of nutrition and microbiota with inflammatory diseases. He is leading author of two German national vasculitis guidelines (ANCA-associated vasculitis and Large Vessel Vasculitis) and worked as research fellow with a EULAR task force to create the 2022 update of the EULAR guidelines for ANCA-associated vasculitis.
Jan is a member of the German Society for Rheumatology (DGRh) as well as it’s young rheumatologist working group. He is part of the Visibility and Global Affairs Sub-Committee.
Janj.h.schirmer@web.de
Rudresh Shukla, MRCP(UK)(London), MSc (Clin Res)
UK
Rudi is a trainee in rheumatology at Health Education England-North West Deanery and currently undertaking his PhD as an NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre clinical research fellow within the Centre for Musculoskeletal Research (CfMR) at the University of Manchester. His PhD focuses on multidimensional analysis of early rheumatoid arthritis phenotypes and cardiovascular disease with a focus on clinical, ultrasound measures and omics techniques. His major interests include early and refractory inflammatory arthritis, ultrasound and synovial biopsies, and cardiovascular disease across immune mediated inflammatory conditions.
Rudi is also a member of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) and locally has been the joint secretary of the Manchester Rheumatology Afternoon which is a highly popular monthly educational rheumatology meeting for the North West of England. He is a member of the EMEUNET Social Media Sub-Committee.
rudresh.shukla@manchester.ac.uk