• Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians 2000
• MD from University of London 1994 (Research on Cytokines in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus)
• ECFMG from USA 1989
• Membership of the Royal College of Physicians 2000
• MA University of Cambridge 1982
• MB BS London Hospital Medical College1981 (Distinction in Pathology)
• BA University of Cambridge (First Class degree)    Part 2: Pathology: Immunology and Virology

Caroline Gordon undertook pre-clinical medical studies at King’s College Cambridge and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1978. She studied clinical medicine at the London Hospital Medical College and graduated from the University of London in 1981. After training in internal medicine in Brighton and Bristol from 1982 to 1984, she was awarded a Harkness Fellowship by the Commonwealth Fund of New York and spent 2 years in her research fellowship in immunology and arthritis at the University of California, San Francisco. She returned to the UK having been appointed a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Birmingham in 1989 and she set up the Birmingham Lupus Clinics. She was awarded an MD from the University of London for her research on cytokines in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in 1994. She was appointed Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Rheumatology in 1996, was promoted to Reader in 2003 and Professor of Rheumatology in 2007.

In 2002 she was awarded the Edmund L. Dubois, MD, Memorial Award for research in to lupus by the American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation. Given her experience in undertaking an epidemiological survey of lupus using multiple methods of case ascertainment she has been a consultant to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) SLE registries in USA since their inception in 2004. The Birmingham lupus clinics were awarded the title of LUPUS UK Centre of Excellence in 2005, the first lupus centre in the UK to receive this award and it has been reconfirmed at bi-annual review in 2007 and 2009. In 2009 she was appointed advisory expert to the ESF Research Networking Programme: The Identification of Novel Genes and Biomarkers for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (BIOLUPUS).

Much of her research work has focussed on the epidemiology, aetiopathogenesis and treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, disease assessment methodology for outcome studies and clinical trials, clinical and laboratory markers of disease flare, the genetic susceptibility to SLE and the role of ethnicity in predicting disease susceptibility and long-term outcome. She has been Co-Chair of the EULAR SLE Task Force since 2005 and she led the EULAR SLE Task Force on points to consider for conducting clinical trials She is an active member of several national and international research groups.

Teaching Programmes

• Medicine and Surgery MBChB: - lead for the musculo-skeletal curriculum group responsible for organising the teaching and assessment of musculo-skeletal medicine in the 3^rd, 4th & 5^th years and vertical integration.

 - clinical co-ordinator for the muscles, joints and movement module in year 1.

• B Med Sci: - contributes lectures and examination questions

Academic FY1 and FY2 doctors: - educational and clinical supervisor ; alsolectures regularly on the design of clinical trials and research studies on the academic FY2 course

Academic Clinical Fellow: educational  supervisor

Specialist Registrars: lectures to those training in Rheumatology, Immunology, General Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and A&E in the Midlands

MSc in Rheumatology: external lecturer at University of London (Guys’ Hospital)

RESEARCH THEMES

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Pregnancy and the Rheumatic Diseases, Methodology for Clinical Trials in Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases 

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Her research programme focuses on systemic lupus erythematosus but she has also contributed to research in to inflammatory arthritis, vasculitis, Sjogren’s syndrome and anti-phospholipid syndrome. Caroline Gordon is a member of the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG), the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC), Co-Chair of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Task Force for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and has been a member of several American College of Rheumatology and Lupus Foundation of America committees for lupus research. She has been the lupus lead on the arthritic research campaign systemic autoimmune disease clinical study group and is currently the deputy for lupus on this committee.

Much of her work has focused on disease assessment for clinical trials and outcome studies, particularly the development of the BILAG disease activity index and the epidemiology of lupus. She has also been involved in the development of the SLICC/ACR damage index and in the assessment of quality of life in lupus patients using the SF-36 and the Lupus QoL surveys. Caroline Gordon has a longstanding interest in improving the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus and has been involved in organising two investigator led trials: IV cyclophosphamide versus oral cyclophosphamide in lupus nephritis (EULAR sponsored) and cyclosporine versus azathioprine in severe SLE (arc funded). More recently she has been involved in trials of epratuzumab (anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody) for lupus. She has led the initiative producing EULAR points to consider for conducting clinical trials in SLE and advises the pharmaceutical industry on organising and analysing clinical trials and is a consultant to the Centre for Disease Control on epidemiological studies of lupus in the USA. She is interested in both clinical and laboratory markers of disease flare, the genetic susceptibility to lupus, predictors of response to treatment, the importance of ethnicity in predicting disease susceptibility and long-term outcome, and the health of children born to mothers with lupus.

American College of Rheumatology (ACR)
1997-1998 - Member of the ACR committee for the assessment of neuro-psychiatric disease in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
1998-2003 - Lupus Study Group member
2002-2003 - Member of the ACR committee for the development of SLE response criteria for clinical trials
2002-2005 - Co-chair/chair ACR Annual Meeting SLE Abstract selection committee
2003-2006 - Member of the ACR Renal Lupus Response Criteria Workgroup

Arthritis Research UK (Arthritis Research Campaign)
2007-2010 - Lead for lupus research in the Autoimmune  Rheumatic Disorders Clinical Study Group

British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG)
1991-current - Member
2003-current - Deputy Chair

British Society for Rheumatology
1996-2002 - Convenor (chair) for the BSR Lupus Special Interest Group
1998-2001 - Research and Training Committee
2000-2005 - BSR/British Renal Ass. Lupus Nephritis Study Group

European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)
2003-2006 - Scientific Committee member
2005-2006 - Chair of the Abstract Selection Committee
2005-2008 - Chair for SLE Task Force on “Recommendations for clinical    end-points and conducting trials in SLE”
2005-current - Co-Chair for the SLE Task Force on Recommendations for management of SLE” and for “the management of neuropsychiatric SLE”

Lupus Nephritis Terminology Advisory Group
2006-8 - Co-Chair for UK and European Consensus groups (first author)

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
2007-2011 - Lead for the Birmingham and Black Country (BBC) Comprehensive Local Research Network (CLRN) Immunology and Inflammation Speciality Group
2008-2011 - Chair of the National Comprehensive Clinical Research  Network (CCRN) Immunology and Inflammation Specialty Group
2009-2012 - Member of the UKCRN Experimental Medicine Steering Group

Royal College of Physicians
2008-2009 - Chair for the SLE group revising Map of Medicine Clinical Pathways   

Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics
1992-1996 - Member
1997-2005 - Member of executive committee (agenda organiser)
2006-current - Member

Yee CS, Farewell V, Isenberg DA, Rahman A, Teh LS, Griffiths B, Bruce IN, Ahmad Y, Prabu A, Akil M, McHugh N, D'Cruz D, Khamashta MA, Maddison P, Gordon C, (2007). British Isles Lupus Assessment Group 2004 index is valid for assessment of disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus, Arthritis & Rheumatism. 56:4113-4119.

Yee CS, Isenberg DA, Prabu A, Sokoll K, Teh LS, Rahman A, Bruce IN, Griffiths B, Akil M, McHugh N, D'Cruz D, Khamashta MA, Bowman S, Maddison P, Zoma A, Gordon C, (2008), BILAG-2004 Index captures SLE disease activity better than SLEDAI-2000, Annals Rheumatic Diseases, 67: 873 - 876

Gordon C, Bertsias G, Ioannidis JP, Boletis J, Bombardieri S, Cervera R, Dostal C, Font J, Gilboe IM, Houssiau F, Huizinga TW, Isenberg D, Kallenberg CG, Khamashta MA, Piette JC, Schneider M, Smolen JS, Sturfelt G, Tincani A, van Vollenhoven R, Boumpas DT, (2009), EULAR points to consider for conducting clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus, Annals  Rheumatic Diseases, 68(4):470-476

Bertsias GK, Ioannidis JP, Boletis J, Bombardieri S, Cervera R, Dostal C, Font J, Gilboe IM, Houssiau F, Huizinga T, Isenberg D, Kallenberg CG, Khamashta M, Piette JC, Schneider M, Smolen J, Sturfelt G, Tincani A, van Vollenhoven R, Boumpas DT, Gordon C, (2009), EULAR points to consider for conducting clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus: literature based evidence for the selection of endpoints, Annals  Rheumatic Diseases, 68(4):477-483

Yee CS, Farewell V, Isenberg DA, Griffiths B, Teh LS, Bruce IN, Ahmad Y, Rahman A, Prabu A, Akil M, McHugh N, Edwards C, D'Cruz D, Khamashta MA, Maddison P, Gordon C, (2009), The BILAG-2004 index is sensitive to change for assessment of SLE disease activity. Rheumatology (Oxford), 48(6):691-695.

Prabu A,  Patel K,  Yee C-S, Nightingale P,  Situnayake RD,  Thickett DR, Townend JN,  Gordon C, (2009), Prevalence and risk factors for pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with lupus,  Rheumatology (Oxford), 48(12):1506-1511

Ginzler EM, Wofsy D, Isenberg D, Gordon C, Lisk L, Dooley MA, (2009), Nonrenal disease activity following mycophenolate mofetil or intravenous cyclophosphamide as induction treatment for lupus nephritis: Findings in a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label, parallel-group clinical trial. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 62:211-221.

Lim SS, Drenkard C, McCune WJ, Helmick CG, Gordon C, Deguire P, Bayakly R, Somers EC, (2009), Population-based lupus registries: Advancing our epidemiologic understanding. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 61:1462-1466.

Griffiths B, Emery P, Ryan V, Isenberg D, Akil M, Thompson , Maddison P, Griffiths ID, Lorenzi A, Miles S, Situnayake D, Teh L-S, Plant M, Hallengren C, Nived O, Sturfelt G, Chakravarty K, Tait T, Gordon C, (2010),The BILAG multi-centre open randomized controlled trial comparing ciclosporin versus azathioprine in patients with severe SLE: ciclosporin is safe and has similar corticosteroid-sparing properties. Rheumatology (Oxford), 49(4):723-32.