Professor Karim Raza BA, BMBCh, FRCP, PhD

Karim Raza

Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
Professor of Rheumatology supported by Versus Arthritis

Contact details

Telephone
+44 121 3713242
Email
k.raza@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Birmingham
B15 2WB

Karim Raza is Professor of Rheumatology within the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham where he is Head of the Rheumatology Research Group.

Professor Raza has an active NHS clinical practice, working as an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust with a specialist interest in inflammatory arthritis.

Professor Raza qualified from Oxford in 1993 and achieved Membership of the Royal College of Physicians in 1996. From 2000-2003 he worked as an Arthritis Research UK clinical training fellow studying the regulation of leukocyte apoptosis in early inflammatory arthritis.

Following the award of a PhD, he was appointed as Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology in 2004. In 2009 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and was awarded the prestigious Michael Mason Prize by the British Society for Rheumatology. He was promoted to Reader in 2011 and Professor in 2013, and is a Theme Lead within the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre.

Qualifications

  • FRCP 2009
  • PhD, University of Birmingham, 2004
  • BMBCh, Oxford University, 1993
  • BA (Physiological Sciences), Oxford University, 1990

Teaching

  • Co-lead for clinical Rheumatology teaching for Year 4 medical students at the University of Birmingham
  • At a postgraduate level, he teaches on several postgraduate courses and supervises doctors on the Academic Clinical Training program.

Postgraduate supervision

Research

Professor Raza leads the Birmingham Early Arthritis Cohort

Professor Raza’s research focuses on rheumatoid arthritis, the most common of the chronic inflammatory joint diseases. Within this disease area, his research addresses pathogenic mechanisms, biomarker development and strategies to enhance clinical outcomes for patients with a new onset of disease. Specifically he is interested in:

  1. Mechanisms driving the molecular basis for the switch to disease persistence and the timing of this switch in early arthritis.
  2. Predictors of outcome in patients with early inflammatory arthritis.
  3. Novel anti-inflammatory mechanisms that may be useful in the control of persistent inflammation, including vitamin D and endogenously generated glucocorticoids.
  4. Management pathways for patients with early rheumatoid arthritis, including the development of strategies to facilitate rapid patient assessment.
  5. Perspectives of patients and members of the public about RA and the concept of ‘risk’ in relation to RA to facilitate informed engagement with predictive and early treatment strategies.

Patient and Public involvement in research

Patients and members of the public play an important role in the development, delivery and dissemination of Professor Raza’s research, enhancing its relevance and impact. Professor Raza has been instrumental in establishing the Birmingham Rheumatology Research Patient Partnership (R2P2) which has 40 active members and provides crucial input into clinical and translational studies across the Rheumatology Research Group.

Other activities

Positions of responsibility include

  1. Director of Research and Development at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust (2014-2018).
  2. Co-chair of the EULAR Study Group on Risk Factors for Rheumatoid Arthritis rheumatoid arthritis (2011-2018).
  3. Co-lead for Outputs for Unit of Assessment 1 for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 at the University of Birmingham.

Committee membership

  1. Member of the Arthritis Research UK Clinical Studies Central Progress Review Committee (2009- 2013) and of the Arthritis Research UK Research sub-committee (2013-2017).
  2. Member of the following EULAR taskforces:
    1. ‘EULAR recommendations for the standardised content and structure of minimum data collection to harmonise observational research in rheumatoid arthritis’ (2015-16).
    2. ‘EULAR classification criteria for arthralgia that is clinically suspect for progression to rheumatoid arthritis’ (2015-16).
    3. ‘Update of the 2007 EULAR recommendations for the management of early arthritis’ (2015-16).
    4. EULAR Points to Consider for conducting clinical trials in individuals at-risk of rheumatoid arthritis (current).
    5. EULAR Recommendations for the use and interpretation of laboratory diagnostic tests for the management of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (current).
    6. EULAR tools to predict RA in clinically suspect arthralgia patients (current)
  3. Member of the British Society for Rheumatology’s Research Committee (2014-2018). 

Editorial Board membership

Member of the Editorial board for Rheumatology (2011-2015) and for RMD Open (2017-present)

Publications

Highlight publications

Wei, K, Korsunsky, I, Marshall, JL, Gao, A, Watts, GFM, Major, T, Croft, AP, Watts, J, Blazar, PE, Lange, JK, Thornhill, TS, Filer, A, Raza, K, Donlin, LT, Accelerating Medicines Partnership Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (AMP RA/SLE) Consortium, Siebel, CW, Buckley, CD, Raychaudhuri, S & Brenner, MB 2020, 'Notch signalling drives synovial fibroblast identity and arthritis pathology', Nature, vol. 582, no. 7811, pp. 259–264. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2222-z

Nijjar, JS, Morton, FR, Bang, H, Buckley, C, van der Heijde, D, Gilmour, A, Paterson, C, McInnes, IB, Porter, D, Raza, K & Scottish Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Inception Cohort Investigators 2021, 'The impact of autoantibodies against citrullinated, carbamylated, and acetylated peptides on radiographic progression in patients with new-onset rheumatoid arthritis: an observational cohort study', The Lancet Rheumatology, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. e284-e293. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30381-7

Fenton, C, Doig, C, Fareed, S, Naylor, A, Morrell, AP, Addison, O, Wehmeyer, C, Buckley, C, Cooper, MS, Lavery, G, Raza, K & Hardy, R 2019, '11β-HSD1 Plays a critical role in trabecular bone loss associated with systemic glucocorticoid therapy', Arthritis Research & Therapy, vol. 21, no. 1, 188. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-019-1972-1

Filer, A, Ward, LSC, Kemble, S, Davies, C, Munir, H, Rogers, R, Raza, K, Buckley, C, Nash, G & McGettrick, H 2017, 'Identification of a transitional fibroblast functional phenotype in very early rheumatoid arthritis', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, vol. 76, no. 12, pp. 2105-2112. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2017-211286

Juarez, M, Bang, H, Hammar, F, Reimer, U, Dyke, B, Sahbudin, I, Buckley, C, Fisher, B, Filer, A & Raza, K 2016, 'Identification of novel antiacetylated vimentin antibodies in patients with early inflammatory arthritis', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, vol. 75, no. 6, pp. 1099-1107. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-206785

Recent publications

Article

Sahbudin, I, Singh, R, Trickey, J, Baranskaya, A, Tracy, A, Raza, K, Filer, A, Jowett, S & Boonen, A 2023, 'Is symptom duration before DMARD therapy a determinant of direct and indirect costs in DMARD-naïve RA patients?', Rheumatology Advances in Practice. https://doi.org/10.1093/rap/rkad040

Fenton, S, Gasparyan, AY, O'Brien, C, Kitas, GD, Rayner, F, Isaacs, JD, Baker, KF, Pratt, AG, Buckley, CD, Raza, K, Filer, A, Siebert, S, McInnes, IB & McGucken, A 2023, 'Number of days required to measure sedentary time and physical activity using accelerometery in rheumatoid arthritis: a reliability study', Rheumatology International.

Wells, I, Zemedikun, D, Simons, G, Stack, R, Mallen, CD, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2023, 'Predictors of the likelihood that patients with rheumatoid arthritis will communicate information about rheumatoid arthritis risk to relatives: a quantitative assessment', Patient Education and Counseling, vol. 112, 107713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.107713

Simons, G, Veldwijk, J, DiSantostefano, R, Englbrecht, M, Radawski, C, Karin, SB, Valor Mendez, L, Hauber, B, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2023, 'Preferences for preventive treatments for rheumatoid arthritis: discrete choice survey in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Romania', Rheumatology, vol. 62, no. 2, keac397, pp. 596–605. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keac397

Fenton, CG, Crastin, A, Martin, CS, Suresh, S, Montagna, I, Hussain, B, Naylor, AJ, Jones, SW, Hansen, MS, Gorvin, CM, Price, M, Filer, A, Cooper, MS, Lavery, GG, Raza, K & Hardy, RS 2022, '11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 within osteoclasts mediates the bone protective properties of therapeutic corticosteroids in chronic inflammation', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 23, no. 13, 7334, pp. 7334. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23137334

Wells, I, Simons, G, Davenport, C, Mallen, CD, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Acceptability of predictive testing for ischemic heart disease in those with a family history and the impact of results on behavioural intention and behaviour change: a systematic review', BMC Public Health, vol. 22, no. 1, 1751. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14116-6

Simons, G, Janssen, E, Veldwijk, J, DiSantostefano, RL, Englbrecht, M, Radawski, C, valor-mendez, L, Humphreys, J, Bruce, IN, Hauber, B, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Acceptable risks of treatments to prevent rheumatoid arthritis amongst first-degree relatives: demographic and psychological predictors of risk tolerances', RMD Open, vol. 8, no. 2, e002593. https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002593

Fletcher, J, Bishop, E, Harrison, S, Williamson-Swift, A, Cooper, SC, Dimeloe, S, Raza, K & Hewison, M 2022, 'Autoimmune disease and interconnections with vitamin D', Endocrine Connections, vol. 11, no. 3, e210554. https://doi.org/10.1530/EC-21-0554

Zemedikun, DT, Lee, H, Nirantharakumar, K, Raza, K, Chandan, JS, Lord, JM & Jackson, TA 2022, 'Comorbidity phenotypes and risk of mortality in patients with osteoarthritis in the UK: a latent class analysis', Arthritis Research & Therapy, vol. 24, no. 1, 231. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-022-02909-4

Sharma-Oates, A, Zemedikun, D, Kumar, K, Reynolds, J, Jain, A, Raza, K, Williams, J, Bravo Merodio, L, Roth Cardoso, V, Gkoutos, G, Nirantharakumar, K & Lord, J 2022, 'Early onset of immune-mediated diseases in minority ethnic groups in the UK', BMC medicine, vol. 20, no. 1, 346. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02544-5

Simons, G, Karin, SB, Englbrecht, M, Johansson, EC, DiSantostefano, RL, Radawski, C, Veldwijk, J, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Exploring preferences of at-risk individuals for preventive treatments for rheumatoid arthritis', Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/03009742.2022.2116805

De Pablo, P, Serban, S, Lopez-Oliva, I, Rooney, J, Hill, K, Raza, K, Filer, A, Chapple, I & Dietrich, T 2022, 'Outcomes of periodontal therapy in rheumatoid arthritis: the OPERA feasibility randomized trial', Journal of Clinical Periodontology, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 295-306. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpe.13756

Bunnewell, S, Wells, I, Zemedikun, D, Simons, G, Mallen, CD, Raza, K & Falahee, M 2022, 'Predictors of perceived risk in first-degree relatives of patients with rheumatoid arthritis', RMD Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2022-002606

Comment/debate

Sahbudin, I, Singh, R, De Pablo, P, Rankin, E, Rhodes, B, Justice, E, Derrett-Smith, E, Amft, N, Narayan, N, McGrath, C, Baskar, S, Trickey, J, Maybury, M, Raza, K & Filer, A 2023, 'Correction to: The value of ultrasound-defined tenosynovitis and synovitis in the prediction of persistent arthritis ', Rheumatology, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 1356-1356. https://doi.org/10.1093/RHEUMATOLOGY/KEAC336

Review article

Falahee, M & Raza, K 2022, 'Perspectives of at-risk individuals on preventive intervention for rheumatoid arthritis: a mini review', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 13, 883287, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.883287

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Rheumatoid Arthritis