Continuing EMEUNET Sub-Committee Members 2024-2025

Morten is a trainee in rheumatology and a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Rheumatology Aarhus University Hospital. In 2021, he finalised his PhD on the role of immune checkpoint molecules and fibroblasts in rheumatoid arthritis.

His major interests include basic and translational science, the stromal niche and the involvement in arthritis, VEXAS and autoinflammatory diseases. Morten is a board member of the Young Danish Rheumatology Society.

Morten is the EMEUNET Country Liaison for Denmark and a member of the Peer Mentoring Sub-Committee.

E-mail: morten.a.nielsen@biomed.au.dk

Simone is a research fellow at the School of Health and Society, Centre for Human Movement and Rehabilitation, University of Salford, Salford, UK. He is a physiotherapist specialised in the rehabilitation of rheumatic and musculoskeletal disorders. In 2023, he gained his double PhD in Neurosciences (University of Genova, Italy) and Medical Science (Lund University, Sweden).

His research revolves around improving patients’ adherence to lifestyle interventions (e.g. exercise and diet) and on the socio-economic, cultural and psychological dimensions of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. He is a member of the British Society of Rheumatology.

He is part of the EMEUNET Peer-Mentoring Sub-Committee and the EULAR HPR Knowledge Translation Sub-Committee.

E-mail: s.battista@salford.ac.uk

Lisa is a physician and clinical scientist at the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Inselspital, University Hospital, in Bern, Switzerland, with research interests focusing on vasculitis, specifically giant cell arteritis, and Sjögren’s disease. She conducted the GUSTO trial, a proof-of-concept study in giant cell arteritis. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Vasculitis Association Switzerland (VASAS).

She is a member of the EMEUNET Peer Mentoring Sub-Committee.

E-mail: lisa.christ@insel.ch

Francesca is a rheumatologist and a PhD at the Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology Unit of the ASST Spedali Civili and University of Brescia, Italy.

Her major interests include reproductive health in patients with rheumatic diseases, connective tissue diseases (in particular, systemic lupus erythematosus) and autoinflammatory diseases. Francesca is a member of the ERN ReCONNET young working group.

She is the past EMEUNET Country Liaison for Italy and San Marino (2019-2022) and is currently a member of the EMEUNET Visibility and Global Affairs Sub-Committee.

E-mail: crisafulli.francesca10@gmail.com

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.

E-mail: rdacheva@gmail.com

Bohdana is an Assistant Professor at Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, Ukraine. Her PhD research focused on pulmonary involvement in systemic sclerosis and its potential correction.

Her primary scientific interests lie in exploring the complex pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders, with a particular focus on understanding their underlying mechanisms and impacts. Bohdana actively contributes as a journal reviewer and editor. In 2019, she received the Publons Peer Review Award in Clinical Medicine. Bohdana serves as an associate editor for Rheumatology International and is an editorial board member for Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease and Rheumatology Advances in Practice. She is also affiliated with the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the European Respiratory Society.

Bohdana is a member of the Country Liaison Sub-Committee.

E-mail: doskaliuk_bo@ifnmu.edu.ua

Sarah is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Manchester, UK. Her clinical and research interests include systemic lupus erythematosus and undifferentiated connective tissue disease.

She is interested in real-world data, clinical trial design and how molecular profiling may help determine response to therapy.

Sarah is a member of the EMEUNET Peer Mentoring Sub-Committee.

E-mail: sarah.dyball@manchester.ac.uk

Olivier is a rheumatology fellow 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 Education Sub-Committee.

E-mail: ofakih@chu-besancon.fr

Bayram is a rheumatologist in Turkey and currently a clinical research fellow at University College London (UCL) in the UK.

His main clinical interests 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 a researcher with Versus Arthritis (UK) to establish fatigue evaluation in RMDs.

Bayram is a member of the EMEUNET Social Media Sub-Committee and EMEUNET Podcast Team.

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. 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 EMEUNET Social Media Sub-Committee.

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.

Halbert is an internist and trainee in Rheumatology at the Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga. He obtained his Master’s in Autoimmune Diseases from the University of Barcelona and is currently a PhD student at the University of Málaga.

His research interests are focused on epidemiological and translational research in systemic autoimmune diseases, specifically, in systemic lupus erythematosus. He is currently collaborating in the European project 3TR – Taxonomy, Treatment, Targets and Remission-SLE Study, and in the International Multicenter Registry of patients with monogenic and polygenic autoinflammatory diseases (AIDA Project). He is a member of the European Lupus Society and a predoctoral fellow of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

Halbert served on the EMEUNET Social Media Sub-Committee and is now a member of the Newsletter Sub-Committee.

halbert.hernandez.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es

Shalaleh is a PhD researcher at 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 interests include cognitive dysfunction in inflammatory arthritides, self-movement and work interventions, as well as patient participation and patient–health care provider discussions. She is currently a member of Irish Psychological Association (PSI), Association of Occupational Therapists 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 an EMEUNET Peer Mentoring Sub-Committee member.

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 carrying out her PhD in medical informatics and statistics, 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 also 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 working group of the Austrian Society of Rheumatology (JOEGR).

She is a member of the EMEUNET Newsletter Sub-Committee.

            E-mail: victoria.konzett@meduniwien.ac.at

Gozde is currently working as a clinical and research fellow at the Vasculitis Clinic Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. Gozde completed her rheumatology fellowship at Hacettepe University Medical Faculty in Ankara, and then started her VCRC-Vasculitis Foundation Fellowship under the supervision of Dr Pagnoux. Her major interests are vasculitis and pregnancy in rheumatic diseases. 

Gozde is a member of the Vasculitis Foundation, the Turkish Society of Rheumatology, Hacettepe Society of Rheumatology, and is a member of the Education Sub-Committee.

E-mail: gozdeyakkan@gmail.com

Jean-Guillaume is a rheumatologist at Lille University Hospital, France. Since November 2023, he has been a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Oxford.

His research interests include axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis, the crosstalk between inflammatory bowel diseases and psoriasis, and difficult-to-treat axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis.

He is a member of the EMEUNET Visibility and Global Affairs Sub-Committee.

E-mail: jeanguillaume.letarouilly@chu-lille.fr

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 19^th EULAR Online Course on Rheumatic Diseases.

Steph is a member of the EMEUNET Newsletter Sub-Committee.

Clementina is a rheumatologist at the Department of Rheumatology of the University Hospital Reina Sofía in 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.

E-mail: clementinalopezmedina@gmail.com

Cristina is a clinical rheumatologist working at Ramón y Cajal University Hospital (Madrid, Spain), in charge of the psoriatic arthritis clinic. Her research interests are focused on psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthritis. She is a member of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology and GRAPPA.

Cristina is a member of the EMEUNET Country Liaison Sub-Committee.

E-mail: ccmacia@gmail.com

Renske is a consultant rheumatologist at the rheumatology department of Haaglanden Medical Center, the Hague. Aside from working as a consultant, she is engaged in updating the Dutch curriculum for rheumatology trainees. She has a special interest in performing and teaching musculoskeletal ultrasound. This year, she passed the EULAR ultrasound trainers course in TTT in rheumatology, ready to continue teaching and organising courses.

Renske is part of the EMEUNET Education Sub-Committee.

E-mail: lja.renskemeijer@gmail.com

Cathy Melong is an internist and rheumatologist from Cameroon, currently working in Switzerland. Her main research interests are systemic lupus erythematosus and gout, and patient-oriented clinical epidemiology (risk factors for mortality, effectiveness of treatments).

Cathy is a member of the Peer Mentoring Sub-Committee.

E-mail: cathymelong@yahoo.fr

Fernando is a clinical fellow at Gregorio Marañon General Hospital in Madrid. He obtained his Master’s in systemic autoimmune diseases from the Rey Juan Carlos University. He undertakes his rheumatology practice in Rey Juan Carlos Hospital, Madrid, Spain.  His research interests are focused on idiopathic inflammatory myopathy patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).

Fernando is a member of the EMEUNET Country Liaisons Sub-Committee.

E-mail: fernando.montero@quironsalud.es

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. 

                           E-mail: wanlin_ng@yahoo.com

Aleksandra is a trainee in rheumatology at the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology with Internal Diseases Subdivision of the USK-WAM Hospital in Lodz and a research and teaching assistant at the Department of Rheumatology, Medical University of Lodz.

Her major interests include idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, autoantibodies and connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease. In 2022, she finalised her PhD on cardiovascular involvement in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Aleksandra is a member of Polish Rheumatology Society (PTR), Section of Young Rheumatologists of PTR, International Myositis Society (iMyos), MYONET and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).

Aleksandra is the EMEUNET Country Liaison for Poland and a member of the Newsletter Sub-Committee.

E-mail: aleksandra.opinc@umed.lodz.pl

Alex is a rheumatology resident at the First Department of Propaedeutic Internal Medicine at Laiko Hospital, part of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

His primary clinical interests include systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic vasculitides. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD, with his research focusing on the long-term outcomes of lupus nephritis.

Additionally, Alex is an active member of the Greek Society of Rheumatology and serves on the EMEUNET Country Liaison Sub-Committee.

E-mail: alej.panagiotopoulos@gmail.com

Daliya obtained her PhD from the Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria, with a focus on the management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She completed her residency in rheumatology at the Clinic of Rheumatology, University Hospital “St. Ivan Rilski,” Sofia, Bulgaria. Daliya is also an assistant professor of pathophysiology at the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Medical University of Sofia.

Her major interests include patient-reported outcome measures, quality of life and treat-to-target strategies. In 2021, as part of the SLEuro bursary program, Daliya completed a two-month training at the SLE Centre, Policlinic of Rheumatology & Hiller Research Unit, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany.

Daliya is a member of the Country Liaison Sub-Committee.

E-mail: daliyapencheva@yahoo.com

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 a 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.

Her research focuses on assessing the role of immunometabolism in the pathogenesis of immune-mediated inflammatory disorders for the identification of new biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. She is an associate editor for Frontiers in Immunology and Inflammation. Valentina is a member of the British Society of Immunology, the British Society of Rheumatology and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).

She is a member of the Social Media Sub-Committee.

E-mail: valentina.pucino@gmail.com

Ana is a paediatric rheumatologist. She completed her two-year specialist training at a European centre of excellence in paediatric rheumatology, the Istituto Giannina Gaslini. She currently works at the Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid. She is particularly focused on research in the fields of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis and paediatric musculoskeletal ultrasound.

Ana is the coordinator of ERNA-SER (Working Group on Rheumatic Diseases of Children and Adolescents) of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology, an active member of EMERGE, a member of the EMEUNET Newsletter Sub-Committee and participates in ongoing projects of PRINTO.

E-mail: dra.anarebollo@gmail.com

Barbara obtained her MD-PhD at the University of Geneva in 2020 after completing her specialty training at the Università Degli Studi Della Campania in Naples in 2016.

Her research focuses on autoimmune diseases and the mechanism of skin fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. In October 2021, she also obtained a Master’s in epidemiology and biostatistics at the University Milano-Bicocca. She recently undertook second specialty training in dermatology.

Barbara is a member of the EMEUNET Education Sub-Committee.

E-mail: barbara.russo@unige.ch

Juan C is a rheumatologist and clinical research fellow at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain. He is an epidemiologist (Universidad del Rosario, Colombia) and has a Master’s in autoimmune diseases (University of Barcelona).

His main research interests include the validation of biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis-interstitial lung disease and the utility of ultrasonography in systemic autoimmune diseases. He undertook a 3-month observership at Service De Rhumatologie Hôpital De Hautepierre (Strasbourg, France), thanks to a grant from SLEuro. He has participated in real-world studies on biologics/biosimilars and JAK inhibitors in rheumatic diseases, including the National Spanish registry BIOBADASER.

Juan C is a member of the EMEUNET Education Sub-Committee.

E-mail: sarmiento@clinic.cat

Jan is a rheumatologist and physician researcher, carrying out his research at the Department of Medicine (Vasculitis and Lupus Group) at the University of Cambridge.

His major interests include large vessel and ANCA-associated vasculitis, as well as hypereosinophilia. He is the lead author of two German national vasculitis guidelines (ANCA-associated vasculitis and large vessel vasculitis). Jan co-authored the 2022 update of the EULAR guidelines for ANCA-associated vasculitis and the most recent update of the vasculitis classification chapter of the EULAR Online Course on Rheumatic Diseases.

Jan is a member of the German Society for Rheumatology (DGRh) and the German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM). He is part of EMEUNET’s Peer-Mentoring Sub-Committee.

Rudi is a rheumatology trainee in Health Education England-North West Deanery and is 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, 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 Education Sub-Committee.

E-mail: rudresh.shukla@manchester.ac.uk