Arthritis Foundation Knowles Lecture

Highlights of the 50th Annual Knowles Lecture

Earlier this month, the Medical and Scientific Committee of the Arthritis Foundation, Northern California office held the 50th Annual Knowles Lecture at the Mission Bay Conference Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

The Knowles Lecture was established with a leadership gift from Harold W. Knowles to the Arthritis Foundation’s Northern California office in 1966. For 50 years, internationally renowned scientific and clinical leaders from universities and medical centers have addressed leading issues in the care and treatment of arthritis and related diseases.

The 2016 Knowles Lecture keynote speaker was the honorable Sir Ravinder Maini, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Rheumatology, Imperial College, London and Visiting Professor Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford.

Sir Ravinder Maini is an internationally renowned rheumatologist, researcher and professor of immunology. His research has focused on immunological and inflammatory mechanisms and therapy of autoimmune rheumatic diseases. His ‘bench to bedside’ research, in collaboration with Marc Feldmann which commenced in 1985, resulted in the development of anti-TNF immunotherapy of rheumatoid arthritis. Or, in layman’s terms, their research and discovery sparked the development of many of the biologic medications currently available to patients with arthritis.

This year’s lecture was very well received and boasted the largest audience to date of approximately 150 attendees that included rheumatologists from across the Bay Area, Arthritis Foundation local leadership board members and representatives from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Family members from the Knowles Family were also in attendance, proudly carrying the legacy left by Harold W. Knowles.

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