Professor Karl Gaffney

Karl Gaffney (MB, BCh, BAO Hons, FRCPI, FRCP) has been a Consultant Rheumatologist
in Norwich since 1995 where he is service lead for axial spondyloarthritis and
adolescent/transition rheumatology. He is an Honorary Professor at Norwich
Medical School, member/former chair of the medical advisory board, National Axial
Spondyloarthritis Society (www.nass.co.uk">www.nass.co.uk), founder member and treasurer of BRITSpA (www.britspa.co.uk">www.britspa.co.uk), chair of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) axial SpA
Biologics Guidelines Committee, member of the National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Project Working Group, associate editor Rheumatology (https://academic.oup.com/rheumatology),
co-director and founder of the Spondyloarthritis Academy (www.spaacademy.org), and
an invited member of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society www.asas-group.org">www.asas-group.org. He has also represented the BSR and NASS at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraisal of biological therapies since 2007. He was Rheumatology
Service Director from 2008 until 2016, Director of Postgraduate Education in Norwich between 1999 and 2005, and Director of Rheumatology Training, Eastern Deanery between 2001 and 2007.

With NASS he has co-developed primary and secondary care educational programmes for
healthcare professionals including Back Pain Seminars, Meeting in a Box,
Solving Spondyloarthritis www.arma.uk.net/nass-solving-spondyloarthropathy">www.arma.uk.net/nass-solving-spondyloarthropathy ,RCGP elearning modules, NASS Allies https://nass.co.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/nass-allies">https://nass.co.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/nass-allies and Back Pain Plus www.nass.co.uk/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 leading the NASS National
Gold Standard Delay to Diagnosis project, launched in June 2021 https://nass.dv002.qfdev.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/NASS_A-Gold-Standard-time-to-diagnosis_DIGITAL_28pp_compressed.pdf">https://nass.dv002.qfdev.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/NASS_A-Gold-Standard-time-to-diagnosis_DIGITAL_28pp_compressed.pd

Hiscurrent research interests include epidemiology, dose optimisation and
extra-skeletal manifestations of axial SpA. He oversees a large clinical trials programme and collaborates with other national and international centres. He has published over 200 papers and has been an invited speaker at national and international meetings.

Diseases, Medical Tests and Treatments

• Intraarticular and soft tissue injections
• epidural injections
• intravenous therapies
• immunosuppressive treatments
• axial spondyloarthritis
• rheumatoid arthritis
• osteoporosis
• osteoarthritis