Alison Kent
Rheumatology Specialist Nurse

Alison has been working in Rheumatology for the past 22 years and living with RA herself for 30 years. With both a personal and professional interest in rheumatological conditions, she works tirelessly to raise awareness on the impact of living with long-term conditions. She’s involved in many EULAR task forces, including those focused on monitoring comorbidities, information dissemination, use of glucocorticoids, difficult to treat RA, and working with patients as research partners. Alison is also interested in supporting the learning needs of other rheumatology healthcare professionals and the use of communication, health coaching and goal setting in the management of RA patients. Alison is a current committee member of the RCN Rheumatology forum.

Barbara Douglas
Senior Clinical Educator

Barbara’s Rheumatology experience spans over a period of 30 years, most of which she has spent working as a Nurse Manager and Advanced Nurse Practitioner at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. Her dual role allowed her to initiate new ways of working and undertake clinical activity for the Rheumatology Department. Barbara is passionate about teaching, and she has recently moved into a new position as a Senior Clinical Educator at the University Hospital of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, which will involve educating Allied health professionals entering the field of Rheumatology.

Dr Neil Stanley
Independent sleep expert

Dr Neil Stanley is an independent sleep expert and Director of Sleep Science at Sleepstation.org.uk. He has been involved in sleep research for 39 years, starting his career at the Neurosciences Division of the R.A.F. Institute of Aviation Medicine. In the early 1990s, he moved to the Human Psychopharmacology Research Unit, part of the University of Surrey, where as Director of Sleep Research he created and ran a 24-bed sleep laboratory for clinical trials. He is past Chairman of the British Sleep Society (2000-2004) and a member of the European Sleep Research Society and the American Academy of Sleep.