Professor Karim Raza BA, BMBCh, FRCP, PhD

Karim Raza

Department of Inflammation and Ageing
Professor of Clinical Rheumatology

Contact details

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

Karim Raza is Professor of Clinical Rheumatology in the Rheumatology Research Group within the Department of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham. 

Professor Raza has an active NHS clinical practice having worked as an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust until September 2023 and from October 2023 as a Consultant Rheumatologist at Hywel Dda University Health Board, based in Aberystwyth.

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.

Qualifications

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

Teaching

Positions have included:

  • Lead for Rheumatology for the University of Birmingham's MBChB programme (2019-2023).

Postgraduate supervision

Positions have included:

  • Academic Representative on the West Midlands Clinical Rheumatology Training Committee (2017-2023)
  • Lead for the Kenedy Trust funded Birmingham MB PhD programme lead (2020-2023)

Research

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.

Other activities

Positions of responsibility have included:

  1. Director of Research and Development at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust (2014-2018).
  2. Head of the Rheumatology Research Group at the University of Birmingham (2021-2023).

Committee membership

  1. Member of the Arthritis Research UK Clinical Studies Central Progress Review Committee (2009- 2013), the Arthritis Research UK Research sub-committee (2013-2017) and the Versus Arthritis Fellowship Committee (2022-2023).
  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’ (reported 2016).
    2. ‘EULAR classification criteria for arthralgia that is clinically suspect for progression to rheumatoid arthritis’ (reported 2016).
    3. ‘Update of the 2007 EULAR recommendations for the management of early arthritis’ (reported 2016).
    4. EULAR Points to Consider for conducting clinical trials in individuals at-risk of rheumatoid arthritis (reported 2021).
    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)

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

Rayner, F, Hiu, S, Melville, A, Bigirumurame, T, Anderson, AE, Dyke, B, Kerrigan, S, McGucken, A, Prichard, J, Shahrokhabadi, MS, Hilkens, C, Buckley, C, McInnes, IB, Ng, W-F, Goodyear, CS, Teare, D, Filer, A, Siebert, S, Raza, K, Pratt, AG, Baker, KF & Isaacs, JD 2025, 'Clinical predictors of flare and drug-free remission in rheumatoid arthritis: preliminary results from the prospective BIO-FLARE experimental medicine study', BMJ open, vol. 15, e092478. https://doi.org/10.1136/ bmjopen-2024-092478

Lopez-Oliva, I, Chapple, I, Paropkari, A, Saraswat, S, Sharma, P, Serban, S, De Pablo, P, Raza, K, Filer, A, Dietrich, T, Grant, M & Kumar, PS 2025, 'Dysbiosis-mediated inflammation: a pathophysiological link between rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis', Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

Sharma-Oates, A, Dunne, N, Raza, K, Padyukov, L, Rivera, N, van der Helm-van Mil, AHM, Pratt, AG, Duggal, N, Jones, S & Lord, J 2025, 'Ethnicity-specific patterns of epigenetic age acceleration in rheumatoid arthritis', GeroScience. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-025-01508-w

van Steenbergen, HW, Doornkamp, F, Alivernini, S, Backlund, J, Codreanu, C, Cohen, SB, Combe, B, Cope, AP, Deane, KD, England, BR, Falahee, M, de Jong, PHP, Kleyer, A, Lacaille, D, Maat, B, Mankia, K, van Mulligen, E, Nagy, G, O'Neill, LJ, Rodamaker, L, Sahbudin, I, van Schaardenburg, D, Sepriano, A, da Silva, JAP, De Smet, L, Sparks, JA, Steyerberg, EW, Studenic, P, Wethingtone, E, Landewe, RL, Raza, K & van der Helm-van Mil, AHM 2025, 'EULAR/ACR risk stratification criteria for development of rheumatoid arthritis in the risk stage of arthralgia', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ard.2025.01.021

van Steenbergen, HW, Doornkamp, F, Alivernini, S, Backlund, J, Codreanu, C, Cohen, SB, Combe, B, Cope, AP, Deane, KD, England, BR, Falahee, M, de Jong, PHP, Kleyer, A, Lacaille, D, Maat, B, Mankia, K, van Mulligen, E, Nagy, G, O'Neil, LJ, Rodamaker, L, Sahbudin, I, van Schaardenburg, D, Sepriano, A, da Silva, JAP, De Smet, L, Sparks, JA, Steyerberg, EW, Studenic, P, Wethington, E, Landewé, RL, Raza, K & van der Helm-van Mil, AHM 2025, 'EULAR/American College of Rheumatology Risk Stratification Criteria for Development of Rheumatoid Arthritis in the Risk Stage of Arthralgia', Arthritis & Rheumatology (Hoboken). https://doi.org/10.1002/art.43218

Donada, CA, Theisen, E, Zhang, F, Nathan, A, Fairfield, ML, Rupani, KV, Jones, D, Johannes, KP, Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network, Raychaudhuri, S, Dwyer, DF, Jonsson, AH & Brenner, MB 2025, 'Granzyme K activates the entire complement cascade', Nature, vol. 641, pp. 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08713-9

Marzeda, AM, Schwenzer, A, Didov, BS, Woolcock, K, Richard, J-B, Jennings, LK, Jule, AM, Yang, N, Davidson, S, Sansom, SN, Cribbs, AP, Dendrou, CA, Yue, WW, Goodyear, CS, Raza, K & Midwood, KS 2025, 'Investigating endogenous immune-mediated monocyte memory in rheumatoid arthritis', Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ard.2025.03.016

McClure, S, Haydock, R, Su, Y, Rick, C, Blackburn, S, Brooks, M, Edwards, CJ, Mallen, C, Raza, K, Jinks, C, Stevenson, M, Montgomery, A, Hepburn, T & Abhishek, A 2025, 'Methotrexate oral or subcutaneous for rheumatoid arthritis (MOOSE): study protocol for a multi-centre randomised trial', Trials, vol. 26, 495. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-025-09020-4

van Wesemael, TJ, Morton, FR, Heutz, JW, Maurits, MP, Dorjée, AL, Porter, D, Huizinga, TWJ, Raza, K, Toes, REM, Knevel, R, de Jong, PHP, Svärd, A & van der Woude, D 2025, 'Smoking as a risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis: predominant association with IgA autoantibodies - comprehensive analysis of anti-modified protein antibodies with smoking and genetic risk factors in rheumatoid arthritis', Arthritis Research & Therapy, vol. 27, no. 1, 101. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-025-03543-6

Raza, K, Sharma-Oates, A, Padyukov, L, van der Helm-van Mil, AHM, Pratt, AG, Jones, SW, Filer, A, Lord, JM & Duggal, NA 2025, 'Specific features of immune ageing are detected in the earliest stages in rheumatoid arthritis development', EBioMedicine, vol. 119, 105900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105900

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

Crastin, A, Shanker, A, Sagmeister, MS, Taylor, A, Lavery, GG, Raza, K & Hardy, RS 2025, 'Vamorolone: a novel metabolism resistant steroid that suppresses joint destruction in chronic polyarthritis with reduced systemic side effects', Rheumatology, vol. 64, no. 7, pp. 4371-4381. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keaf129

Cope, A, Jasenecova, M, Vasconcelos, J, Filer, A, Raza, K, Qureshi, S, D'Agostino, M-A, McInnes, IB, Isaacs, J, Pratt, AG, Fisher, B, Buckley, CD, Emery, P, Ho, P, Buch, MH, Ciurtin, C, van Schaardenburg, D, Huizinga, TWJ, Toes, R, Georgiou, E, Kelly, J, Murphy, CL, Prevost, AT & APIPPRA Study Investigators 2024, 'Abatacept in individuals at high risk of rheumatoid arthritis (APIPPRA): a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, parallel, placebo-controlled, phase 2b clinical trial', The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02649-1

Accelerating Medicines Partnership RA/SLE Network, Faust, HJ, Cheng, TY, Korsunsky, I, Watts, GFM, Gal-Oz, ST, Trim, WV, Kongthong, S, Jonsson, AH, Simmons, DP, Zhang, F, Padera, R, Chubinskaya, S, Wei, K, Raychaudhuri, S, Lynch, L, Moody, DB & Brenner, MB 2024, 'Adipocyte associated glucocorticoid signaling regulates normal fibroblast function which is lost in inflammatory arthritis', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 9859. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52586-x

DiSantostefano, RL, Simons, G, Englbrecht, M, Humphreys, JH, Bruce, IN, Bywall, KS, Radawski, C, Raza, K, Falahee, M & Veldwijk, J 2024, 'Can the General Public Be a Proxy for an “At-Risk” Group in a Patient Preference Study? A Disease Prevention Example in Rheumatoid Arthritis', Medical Decision Making, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 189-202. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989x231218265

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Rheumatoid Arthritis