I am a consultant paediatric rheumatologist working at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), researching the causes of childhood illnesses like juvenile arthritis. Before becoming a consultant, I spent nearly ten wonderful years here at Great Ormond Street, first as a junior doctor and then studying for a PhD, learning about the immune system and how it goes wrong in arthritis.

Working and studying at GOSH, has been a tremendous privilege. I’ve been part of a team of dedicated nurses, doctors, therapists and researchers whose steadfast resolve is to help every child to overcome their illness and experience a normal happy childhood. When I started my training, this was a challenging task as we only had one really effective drug for arthritis. It was really hard to see children suffer, knowing there was little I could do about it.

I am so pleased that this is now a thing of the past. Over the last ten years, I have seen first-hand how research can transform the lives of children with arthritis by identifying new treatments. When I care for my patients today I have a range of therapies to choose from; so if one or two fail I still have promising alternatives with which to tackle their illness. 

GOSH children’s charity has already funded extra staff on the wards, has paid to train researchers who will make the discoveries of the future. Right now GOSHCC supports research that will help us “personalise” treatments, so the right patient gets the right drug. This way we hope to cut down on patients experiencing unnecessary side effects and also help children to recover from pain and discomfort of arthritis much more quickly. 

As well as helping my patients, GOSH has helped me, and now this is my chance to say thanks! Please help me to raise money to continue this valuable work in the future and help transform the lives of many more children for the better.