Gout

Professor Nicola Dalbeth is an academic rheumatologist who leads a clinical and laboratory programme of research in gout, an inflammatory arthritis of major significance to Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work focuses on understanding the impact and mechanisms of disease in gout. She is a founding member of the Counties Manukau District Health Board Maori Gout Action Group, and she was the Lead Clinical Advisor for the Gout Clinical Pathways (Greater Auckland Integrated Healthcare Network) and the national bpac Gout Treatment Guidelines. She has served as an Expert Panel member on the American College of Rheumatology Gout Management Guidelines, and is a steering committee member for the OMERACT gout working group and the ACR/EULAR gout classification project. Professor Lisa Stamp is a Rheumatologist at the University of Otago, Christchurch and Christchurch Hospital. She is director of the Canterbury Rheumatology Immunology Research Group and the University of Otago Arthritis Research Theme. Her research interests include individualization of drug treatments in gout and rheumatoid arthritis. Tony Merriman is an Associate Professor at the University of Otago in Dunedin. He is a genetic epidemiologist and his research involves the causes of gout, including genetic and environmental (dietary and diuretic) causes and their interactions. Since 1998, he has led a research group at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago.