Professor Adam Croft BSc (Hons), MBChB, PhD, MRCP (UK)

Adam Croft

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Head of Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Professor of Translational Rheumatology
Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Versus Arthritis Chair of Rheumatology

Contact details

Address
Rheumatology Research Group
Department of Inflammation and Ageing
University of Birmingham
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, B15 2WB

Adam is Head of Department of Inflammation and Ageing, a multidisciplinary research department of discovery scientists and clinicians, translating mechanisms which underpin inflammation into new treatments/pathways for inflammatory diseases. Adam is also a Professor of Translational Rheumatology and an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals and University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Trusts. He is also the Versus Arthritis Chair of Rheumatology. 

His main research interest is the development of novel immunotherapies for patients with autoimmune rheumatic and chronic inflammatory diseases, with a particular interest in the development of stromal cell (fibroblast) specific targets. He has received funding from the Wellcome Trust and NIHR.

His clinical interests include management of both early and treatment resistant inflammatory arthritis. His research is supported by the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research, Versus Arthritis and Wellcome Trust.

Qualifications

  • PG Cert Medical education 2018
  • PG Cert in Clinical Research Methodology 2015
  • MRCP (UK) 2012
  • MBChB 2009
  • PhD 2005
  • BSc (Hons) 2002

Teaching

  • Year 2 BMedSci Immunology tutorials

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Croft's main research interest is in the development of novel immunotherapies for patients with autoimmune rheumatic and chronic inflammatory diseases. He has a particular interest in the development of stromal cell specific targets. His clinical interests include management of both early and treatment resistant inflammatory arthritis. He is also interested in the management of rare systemic inflammatory diseases including vasculitis. PhD opportunites are available within the Rheumatology Research Group

Other activities

Current

  • 2018- Member of Paediatric and adolescent rheumatology network
  • 2018- Member of Scientific Advisory Committee, NIHR Wellcome Trust Clinical Research facility, University of Birmingham
  • 2016- UK country liaison to EMUNET EULAR advisory group (by competitive national appointment)
  • 2016- Member of West Midlands regional vasculitis network

Previous

  • 2015-2018 Chair of British Rheumatologists in Training Advisory Group and West Midlands regional representative (by competitive national appointment)
  • Member of British Society of Rheumatology Council
  • Member of Joint Specialty Committee at Royal College of Physicians
  • Member of rheumatology JRCTPB speciality advisory group
  • Member of Education and training subcommittee
  • 2016-2018 Member of Clinical Care Quality committee, British Society of Rheumatology (trainee representative)
  • 2016-2018 Member of Peer Review working group, British Society of Rheumatology (trainee representative)
  • 2013-2017 Royal college of Physicians Associate Clinical Tutor, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
  • 2012-2014 Associate Clinical Teaching Fellow, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
  • 2009-2013 Advanced Life Support Instructor, Resuscitation Council UK     

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Raimondo, MG, Mohammadian, H, Angeli, MR, Alivernini, S, Fedorchenko, V, Huang, K, Demmler, R, Rhein, P, Xu, C, Li, Y-N, Micheroli, R, Winter, Z, Rigau, AR, Anchang, CG, Soare, A, Luber, M, Labinsky, H, Chang, J, Günther, C, Fearon, U, Veale, DJ, Ciccia, F, Rech, J, Sticherling, M, Bäuerle, T, Distler, JHW, Kurowska-Stolarska, MS, Mack, M, Ekici, AB, Croft, AP, Distler, O, Maric, HM, Ospelt, C, Cañete, JD, D'Agostino, MA, Schett, G, Rauber, S & Ramming, A 2026, 'Skin-derived myeloid precursors and joint-resident fibroblasts spread psoriatic disease from skin to joints', Nature Immunology, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 35-47. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02351-z

Cartography Consortium, Liu, F, Shi, H, Turner, JD, Anscombe, R, Li, J, Sekine, T, Hammitzsch, A, Agarwal, D, Mahony, C, Chen, J, Kendrick, B, Du, D, Tong, Q, Duan, L, Dooley, K, Fang, H, Korsunsky, I, Madhu, R, Cribbs, AP, Friedrich, M, Marsden, BD, Chen, Y-L, Ogg, G, Adams, A, Chen, W, Leonardo, S, McCann, FE, Buckley, CD, Rooney, T, Freeman, T, Uhlig, HH, Dendrou, C, Croft, A, Filer, A, Bowness, P & Chen, L 2025, 'CD4+ tissue-resident memory Th17 cells are a major source of IL-17A in Spondyloarthritis synovial tissue', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, vol. 84, no. 7, pp. 1151-1163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ard.2025.04.018

Roche Fibroblast Network Consortium 2025, 'Molecular and spatial analysis of tertiary lymphoid structures in Sjogren's syndrome', Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54686-0

Frost, K, Urbanowski, A, Neag, G, Lewis, JW, Northall, E, Kemble, S, Powell, E, Croft, AP, Iqbal, AJ, Rainger, GE, Edwards, JR, Naylor, AJ & McGettrick, HM 2025, 'PEPITEM and its tripeptide pharmacophores: Mechanisms of bone regulation and therapeutic potential in health and disease', Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, vol. 191, 118489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2025.118489

JDCBS, Syntakas, AE, Kartawinata, M, Evans, NML, Nguyen, HD, Papadopoulou, C, Obaidi, MA, Pilkington, C, Glackin, Y, Mahony, CB, Croft, AP, Eaton, S, Cortina-Borja, M, Ogunbiyi, O, Merve, A, Wedderburn, LR & Wilkinson, MGL 2025, 'Spatial transcriptomic analysis of muscle biopsy from patients with treatment-naive juvenile dermatomyositis reveals mitochondrial abnormalities despite disease-related interferon-driven signature', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ard.2025.07.015

Bolton, C, Mahony, CB, Clay, E, Reis Nisa, P, Lomholt, S, Hackland, A, Chin, PS, Smith, CG, Alexiou, V, Nguyen, HD, Thyagarajan, M, Sheikh, Z, Davis, P, Chippington, S, Compeyrot-Lacassagne, S, Davda, S, Foley, C, Turtsevich, I, Ingledow, B, Kupiec, K, Kelly, J, Hanlon, MM, DiCarlo, E, Jones, LJ, Smith, SL, Eyre, S, Neag, G, Kemble, S, Madhu, R, Palshikar, MG, Korsunsky, I, Gao, C, Tran, M, Dendrou, C, Buckley, CD, Coles, MC, Raza, K, MAPJAG Study Group, Gravallese, E, Filer, A, Wei, K, Al-Abadi, E, Rosser, EC, Wedderburn, LR & Croft, A 2025, 'Synovial tissue atlas in juvenile idiopathic arthritis reveals pathogenic niches associated with disease severity', Science Translational Medicine, vol. 17, no. 805, eadt6050. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adt6050

Rauber, S, Mohammadian, H, Schmidkonz, C, Atzinger, A, Soare, A, Treutlein, C, Kemble, S, Mahony, CB, Geisthoff, M, Angeli, MR, Raimondo, MG, Xu, C, Yang, K-T, Lu, L, Labinsky, H, Saad, MSA, Gwellem, CA, Chang, J, Huang, K, Kampylafka, E, Knitza, J, Bilyy, R, Distler, JHW, Hanlon, MM, Fearon, U, Veale, DJ, Roemer, FW, Bäuerle, T, Maric, HM, Maschauer, S, Ekici, AB, Buckley, CD, Croft, AP, Kuwert, T, Prante, O, Cañete, JD, Schett, G & Ramming, A 2024, 'CD200+ fibroblasts form a pro-resolving mesenchymal network in arthritis', Nature Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-024-01774-4

Comment/debate

Croft, AP, Campos, J, Jansen, K, Turner, JD, Marshall, J, Attar, M, Savary, L, Wehmeyer, C, Naylor, AJ, Kemble, S, Begum, J, Dürholz, K, Perlman, H, Barone, F, McGettrick, HM, Fearon, DT, Wei, K, Raychaudhuri, S, Korsunsky, I, Brenner, MB, Coles, M, Sansom, SN, Filer, A & Buckley, CD 2026, 'Author Correction: Distinct fibroblast subsets drive inflammation and damage in arthritis', Nature, vol. 649, no. 8096, pp. E2-E2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09783-5

Bolton, C & Croft, AP 2024, 'All fibroblasts are equal, but some are more equal than others', Nature Reviews Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-024-01097-6

Preprint

Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) RA/SLE Network 2025 'Functional and dysfunctional T regulatory cell states in human tissues in RA and other autoimmune arthritic diseases' bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.23.677874

Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network 2025 'Spatial patterning of fibroblast TGFβ signaling underlies treatment resistance in rheumatoid arthritis' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.14.642821

Mueller, AA, Zou, AE, Marsh, L-J, Kemble, S, Nayar, S, Watts, GFM, Murphy, CL, Taylor, E, Major, T, Gardner, D, Buckley, CD, Wei, K, Raychaudhuri, S, Korsunsky, I, Filer, A, Croft, AP & Brenner, MB 2025 'Wnt signaling drives stromal inflammation in inflammatory arthritis' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.06.631510

Review article

Karsdal, M, Cox, TR, Parker, AL, Willumsen, N, Sand, JMB, Jenkins, G, Hansen, HH, Oldenburger, A, Geillinger-Kaestle, KE, Larsen, AT, Black, D, Genovese, F, Eckersley, A, Heinz, A, Nyström, A, Holm Nielsen, S, Bennink, L, Johannsson, L, Bay-Jensen, A-C, Orange, DE, Friedman, S, Røpke, M, Fiore, V, Schuppan, D, Rieder, F, Simona, B, Borthwick, L, Skarsfeldt, M, Wennbo, H, Thakker, P, Stoffel, R, Clarke, GW, Kalluri, R, Ruane, D, Zannad, F, Mortensen, JH, Sinkeviciute, D, Sundberg, F, Coseno, M, Thudium, C, Croft, AP, Khanna, D, Cooreman, M, Broermann, A, Leeming, DJ, Mobasheri, A & Ricard-Blum, S 2025, 'Advances in Extracellular Matrix-Associated Diagnostics and Therapeutics', Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol. 14, no. 6, 1856. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14061856

Croft, AP & Hackland, A 2025, 'Fibroblast heterogeneity in 2025', Nature Reviews Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-025-01345-3

Singh, R & Croft, AP 2025, 'Navigating complications of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs at the 'front door'', Clinical Medicine, vol. 25, no. 5, 100504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinme.2025.100504

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