University of Oxford

The Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) is a multi-disciplinary department focusing on discovering the causes of musculoskeletal and inflammatory conditions to deliver excellent and innovative care that improves people’s quality of life. The largest European academic department in its field, NDORMS is part of the Medical Sciences Division of the University of Oxford, and is a rapidly growing community of more than 500 orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists and scientists all working in the field of musculoskeletal disorders.

The research work of the department takes place in several locations across the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, namely the Botnar Research Centre, the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, and the Kadoorie Centre. The co-location with NHS services puts the department in an excellent position with basic researchers working alongside clinicians. This substantially improves research capacity, improving access for researchers to patients, and facilitating the interaction between clinicians and scientists that is essential for successful medical research.

Role within HIPPOCRATES

Within the HIPPCORATES project, NDORMS will be particularly involved in WP1 and 2. Laura Coates will co-lead work package 2 (prediction of psoriatic arthritis) and the development of the HIPPOCRATES prospective observational study. She is also involved in WP1 (early diagnosis of PsA). Dani Prieto-Alhambra will lead “big data” approaches within WP2 by identifying predictors of psoriatic arthritis for people with psoriasis amongst routine datasets across Europe and will also contribute towards predictors of prognosis using routine data in WP3.