The University of Birmingham announced that Adam Croft, BSc (Hons), MBChB, MRCP, PhD, has been appointed the Versus Arthritis Chair of Rheumatology and Head of the Rheumatology Research Group at the institution. Dr. Croft currently serves as Professor of Translational Rheumatology at the University of Birmingham, an honorary consultant rheumatologist at Universities Hospital Birmingham, and Leader of the UK Tissue Research in Childhood Arthritis Consortium. He has engaged in discovery and translational rheumatology research to study persistent inflammation in chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and synovial tissue pathology in inflammatory arthritis. Notably, after analyzing synovial tissue fibroblasts, he was able to establish the existence of pathogenic effector fibroblast subsets in patients with inflammatory arthritis. With expertise in treatment-resistant rheumatoid arthritis and childhood-onset inflammatory arthritis, Dr. Croft hopes to explore synovial tissue biopsy in pediatric and young patients with arthritis, advance the understanding of tissue fibroblasts in chronic inflammation, and develop novel strategies to treat immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. “I look forward to working with researchers in the Rheumatology Research Group to shape our research strategy and vision for the next decade, embedding patient views at the heart of our research questions, and ensuring Birmingham continues to deliver cutting-edge research that improves the lives and health of [patients] with rheumatic diseases,” Dr. Croft concluded.