Professor Dr Karl Gaffney

Karl Gaffney has been a Consultant Rheumatologist in Norwich since 1995 where he is service lead for axial spondyloarthritis, adolescent rheumatology and osteoporosis. He is an Honorary Professor at Norwich Medical School, Rheumatology Research Lead, founder member, chair and former treasurer of The British Society for Spondyloarthritis (www.britspa.co.uk), chair of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) axial SpA Guidelines Committee, member of the National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Project Working Group, director of Rheumatology Events (www.rheumatologyevents.org), member of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society www.asas-group.org. and expert advisor to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the appraisal of targeted therapies.  Previous roes include; Chief Medical Advisor, The National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (www.nass.co.uk), Associate Editor, Rheumatology,  Rheumatology Service Director, Director Postgraduate Education, and Director of Rheumatology Training, Eastern Deanery. With NASS he has developed primary and secondary care educational programmes for healthcare professionals including Back Pain Seminars, Meeting in a Box, Back in Focus www.axialspabackinfocus.co.uk, Solving Spondyloarthritis www.arma.uk.net/nass-solving-spondyloarthropathy ,RCGP e-learning modules, NASS Allies https://nass.co.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/nass-allies and Back Pain Plus www.nass.co.uk/back-pain-plus. These initiatives have been awarded national and European awards for excellence in healthcare communication. He is clinical lead for the the NASS National Gold Standard Delay to Diagnosis project launched in 2021 www.actonaxialspa.com. His current research interests include epidemiology, dose optimisation and extra-musculoskeletal manifestations of axial SpA. He oversees a large clinical trials programme and collaborates with multiple national and international centres. He has published over 200 original papers and is a regular invited speaker at national and international conferences. His research publications are available on https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7863-9176

Spondyloarthritis Axial Spondyloarthritis Ankylosing Spondylitis Back Pain Rheumatoid Arthritis Inflammatory Arthritis Osteoarthritis Joint Injections Soft Tissue Injections Gout Osteoporosis Shoulder Pain Back Pain Soft Tissue Injuries Connective Tissue Diseases SLE Scleroderma