Professor Marc Feldmann, MB BS, BSc, PhD, FRCPath, FRCP, FMedSci, FAA, FRS is Head of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division at Imperial College’s Faculty of Medicine. This is the largest dedicated rheumatology research centre. He graduated in medicine in Melbourne and obtained a PhD in Immunology at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute. Professor Feldmann’s research interests are in the molecular pathogenesis of autoimmune and rheumatic disease, focusing on the role of cytokines. His major accomplishment has been to uncover the pivotal role of TNFα in rheumatoid arthritis, leading to the award, jointly with Sir Ravinder Maini, of the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2000), Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award (2003), European Inventor of the Year 2007 (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research, 2008.

Peter Barnes is Professor of Thoracic Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Head of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College and Honorary Consultant Physician at Royal Brompton Hospital, London. He qualified at Cambridge and Oxford Universities was appointed to his present post in 1987. He has published over 1000 peer-review papers on asthma, COPD and related topics and has edited over 40 books. He is also amongst the top 50 most highly cited researchers in the world and has been the most highly cited clinical scientist in the UK and the most highly cited respiratory researcher in the world over the last 20 years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007, the first respiratory researcher for over 150 years. He is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the WHO/NIH global guidelines on asthma (GINA) and COPD (GOLD). He also serves on the Editorial Board of over 30 journals and is currently an Associate Editor of Chest and respiratory Editor of PLoS Medicine. He has given several prestigious lectures, including the Amberson Lecture at the American Thoracic Society and the Sadoul Lecture at the European Respiratory Society.

After receiving his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine and completing residency training at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, Dr Lipsky became a Clinical Associate at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH in 1971. For the next four years, Dr Lipsky received clinical training in rheumatology, allergy and infectious diseases and carried out research on the role of antigen presenting cells in initiating and regulating immune responses. In1975, Dr Lipsky moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, initially as an Instructor in Internal Medicine and progressing to the rank of Professor of Internal Medicine and Microbiology in 1983. Later appointments at Southwestern Medical Center included Director of the Harold C Simmons Arthritis Research Center, Co-Director of the Immunology Graduate Program, and Director of the Rheumatic Disease Division of the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr Lipsky was named the Harold C Simmons Professor in Arthritis Research in 1995. In 1999, he returned to the NIH as Director of the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and also as the founder and the Chief of the Autoimmunity Branch in NIAMS.

Dr Lipsky’s major research interests are related to the immune basis of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Dr Lipsky is internationally recognized for his research, particularly his work on T cell–macrophage interactions, the mechanisms of immune cell activation, the role of T cell and B cell subsets in autoimmune diseases, and for his role in the development of novel therapeutics for rheumatoid arthritis. Dr Lipsky has had the distinct pleasure of being involved in the training of more than 150 post-doctoral fellows and students, many of whom have developed into leadership roles in international rheumatology and immunology. Dr Lipsky served on the Board of Directors of the ACR and also as the chair of the Medical and Scientific Committee of the Arthritis Foundation. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and is a past president of the Clinical Immunology Society. He is the past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immunology (1992–1997), currently serves as the co-editor of Arthritis Research and Therapy and also is the editor-in-chief of Nature Reviews Rheumatology. He is an author of more than 600 research articles.

Dr Lipsky has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 2001 Carol Nachman Prize and the 2002 American College of Rheumatology Distinguished Investigator Award. In 2002, the Arthritis Foundation awarded Dr Lipsky the prestigious Lee Howley prize for his research contributions, and in 2008 he became a Master of the American College of Rheumatology.

Dr John Schrader MBBS, PhD, FRSC is Director of The Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), which he founded in 1986 at the University of British Columbia. Research at the BRC focuses on the immune system, inflammation and tissue-regeneration. After completing his clinical training, Dr Schrader gained a PhD in cellular immunology at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne Australia under Sir Gustav Nossal and did his post-doctoral training at The Rockefeller University under the Nobel Laureate Dr Gerald Edelman. Prior to joining UBC, Dr Schrader was an Assistant Professor at The Rockefeller University, and Head of the Immunoregulation Laboratory at WEHI.

Dr Schrader is a pioneer in the field of cytokines, small hormone -like proteins (such as TNF) that orchestrate the immune system and are key targets in novel therapies for inflammatory diseases like arthritis. His contributions to the field include the characterization of the first cytokine known to act on adult stem cells, interleukin-3, and the finding that interferon gamma, that was thought to be mainly involved with defence against viruses, was an intrinsic regulator of the immune system. The impact of his numerous publications is shown by the fact that he has the "Highly- Cited Scientist" ranking from the Thompson Reuters ISI. Dr Schrader is past President of both the Australian Society for Immunology and the Canadian Society for Immunology, and is currently Secretary of the International Cytokine Society and Chair of the IUIS Interleukin Nomenclature Sub-committee. His current research interest is in novel antibody-based therapies for arthritis and infectious diseases and in the biochemical signals that control cells of the immune system.