Liverpool
Liverpool Clinical Academic Paediatric Rheumatology Department – Alder Hey
The Liverpool Clinical Academic Department of Paediatric Rheumatology is the second largest paediatric rheumatology unit in the country and one of the UK’s leading Paediatric Rheumatology Research Groups. The Department has a very vibrant local research team and is extremely active in collaborative research with all major paediatric rheumatology research networks across the UK and internationally including the Juvenile Dermatomyositis Registry & Repository, UK JSLE Study Group, Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study, BSPAR Biologics Registry, BSPAR Osteoporosis Study and BPSU Scleroderma in Childhood Study. The Department has nurtured and developed the research skills of trainee doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, all of whom have been active in participating and running research projects. The Department has a monthly Rheumatology Research Forum to support the education and coordination of its multi-disciplinary research portfolio.
Liverpool is the coordinating centre of the UK Juvenile-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (JSLE) Study Group. This is a national multi-disciplinary collaborative research network, similar in many ways to the JDRG, with representatives of all the major paediatric units in the UK and as well as consumer representatives, clinical nurse specialists, adult rheumatologists and scientists in the field of immunology. The group is exploring the clinical characteristics of this archetypal autoimmune disease as well as what causes lupus. The Department has an established and productive laboratory-based research portfolio based at the Institute of Child Health, University of Liverpool, Alder Hey. Aiming to understand the immunopathology of JSLE, they are exploring the role of apoptosis (controlled cell death), toll like receptors (TLRs) and the role of the innate and adaptive immune systems in causing lupus.
Liverpool hosts the coordinating centre for the Medicines for Children Research Network (MCRN; www.mcrn.org.uk). Dr Beresford, Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Medicine and Honorary Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist at Alder Hey is Chair of the MCRN/ARC Paediatric Rheumatology Clinical Studies Group (CSG). Along with Dr Baildam, Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist, and the rest of the CSG, he coordinates a comprehensive portfolio of clinical trials and related clinical studies including commercial trials for the whole of paediatric rheumatology across the UK. The Department is proactively involved in driving forward its research agenda forward following a wide range of state-of-the-art research methodologies.