Introducing our 2025 Career Development Fellows
11 July 2025
Versus Arthritis has awarded three more prestigious Career Development Fellowships to researchers fighting for a future free from arthritis.
What is a Career Development Fellowship?
The Career Development Fellowship (CDF) scheme is an important part of our Research Strategy (2022-2026). It’s all about supporting the next generation of talented research scientists, medics, vets, nurses and allied health professionals dedicated to research into arthritis and related musculoskeletal conditions. Our CDFs provide talented researchers with the opportunity to develop an independent research career.
Versus Arthritis is committed to strengthening the future of arthritis research by supporting research careers and building skills within the UK arthritis research community.
Introducing our 2025 fellows
We’re delighted to introduce our 2025 Career Development Fellows and their fellowship awards:
Dr George Goodwin at King’s College London will study which sensory nerves contribute to arthritis pain.
Dr Athina Spiliopoulou at the University of Edinburgh will use new methods of genetic analysis to find genes responsible for rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr Steven Zhao at the University of Manchester will develop new diagnostic tests to improve care for people with spondyloarthritis.
Read below to find out more about our fantastic fellows and their research.
Understanding pain in arthritis
Dr George Goodwin is a researcher at King’s College London aiming to better understand the sensory nerves that transmit pain in arthritis.
‘The ultimate goal of my research is to identify which sensory nerve fibre types contribute to arthritis pain.’
Pain and arthritis
Arthritis pain can have a severe impact on daily life, and current painkillers are often ineffective or cause unwanted side effects. One way to develop better treatments is to target the specific nerves responsible for joint pain. However, it remains unclear which nerves are most important in arthritis pain.
A particular type of nerve, known as ‘silent nociceptors,’ may play a key role. These are a type of nerve that don’t usually respond to pain signals but become active in inflamed joints. Until now, studying these nerves has been difficult due to limitations in available research techniques.
‘My work focuses on understanding how sensory nerve fibres transmit pain signals, using highly specialised techniques such as in vivo electrophysiology and calcium imaging.’
What will Dr Goodwin do?
The aim of Dr Goodwin’s fellowship is to discover whether blocking silent nociceptors can reduce pain in arthritis. This has the potential to guide the development of more effective, targeted pain therapies for people with arthritis.
‘My findings will be shared with drug companies to help them develop more effective painkillers desperately needed by the millions of individuals with arthritis.’
Targeted treatments for rheumatoid arthritis
Dr Athina Spiliopoulou is a health data scientist at the University of Edinburgh studying how genetic factors and biomarkers contribute to disease risk, disease progression and other clinical outcomes.
‘Much of my work is on developing methods and tools for making predictions about health outcomes by analysing large-scale, high-dimensional datasets, combining electronic health records with genomic data.’
Finding new genes for rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the joints, causing inflammation and pain. Over time, this can lead to irreversible joint damage and disability.
Early and effective treatment can greatly improve long-term outcomes, but diagnosing RA early can be difficult. In addition, not all treatments work for every patient, and there is currently no reliable way to predict which drugs will be effective for each person.
What will Dr Spiliopoulou do?
Dr Spiliopoulou has co-developed a method called Genome-wide Aggregation of Trans-Effects (GATE) to identify genes responsible for rheumatoid arthritis. She will also use advanced computational methods to study gene activity and patient blood samples to find biomarkers that could be used to identify people with early rheumatoid arthritis and predict how patients will respond to treatment.
‘The outcomes of my work will benefit people with rheumatoid arthritis by enabling earlier diagnosis and providing a rational basis for choosing treatment. It will also speed up the development of new drugs that target the activity of the core genes we identify.’
Improving care for people with spondyloarthritis
Dr Steven Zhao is a rheumatologist at the University of Manchester with a passion for using research to improve diagnosis and care for people with inflammatory arthritis, particularly spondyloarthritis.
‘My fellowship is focused on developing new tests to help diagnose spondyloarthritis earlier.’
What is spondyloarthritis?
Spondyloarthritis is a type of inflammatory arthritis that mainly affects joints in your back. It often begins in early adulthood, disrupting careers, relationships, and overall wellbeing. One of the biggest challenges in managing spondyloarthritis is the long delay in diagnosis.
‘Many people with spondyloarthritis face years of uncertainty and uncontrolled symptoms before receiving a diagnosis. For example, it can take on average 6 to 8 years to diagnose axial spondyloarthritis. This delay often results in worse outcomes and added strain on healthcare services. Better tests could help to transform this.’
What will Dr Zhao do?
Genetic factors play a major role in the development of spondyloarthritis. However, lifestyle and environmental factors are also thought to be involved. By combining genetic data with blood protein tests, Dr Zhao aims to develop a more accurate and comprehensive diagnostic tool.
‘Reducing the time to diagnosis means people can start treatment earlier, helping to manage symptoms, preserve quality of life, and potentially slow down disease progression.’
Dr Zhao’s Career Development Fellowship has the potential to transform the diagnosis and care of people with spondyloarthritis, improving their quality of life and long-term health outcomes.
Want to know more about how we’re supporting the next generation of research?
Now that you've met our 2025 Career Development Fellows, why not find out more about last year's fellows and their research into communicating with children about their pain, non-surgical approaches to treating carpal tunnel syndrome, testing new treatments for juvenile dermatomyositis, and investigating how the cells in our joints help to keep them healthy.
Introducing our 2024 Career Development fellowsWant to meet our 2023 Career Development Fellows?