George Kitas

MD, PhD, FRCP

Director

• Centre for the Investigation and Management of Rheumatic Diseases, “Hygeia” Group of Hospitals, Athens Greece

Honorary Professor:

• of Behavioural Rheumatology, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK
• of Clinical Rheumatology, Centre for Epidemiology “versus Arthritis”, University of Manchester, UK
• of Rheumatology, Musculoskeletal Health and Exercise, University of Wolverhampton, UK

Visiting Professor:

• Medical School, National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
• Medical School, Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• “Skou” Professor of Rheumatology, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Current main research collaborators

• Professor Jet Veldhuidzen van Zanten, University of Birmingham, UK
• Dr. Sally Fenton, University of Birmingham, UK
• Professor George Metsios, University of Thessaly, Greece
• Professor Antonios Stavropoulos-Kalinoglou, University of Thessaly, Greece
• Professor Sophie Mavrogeni, University of Athens, Greece

Short Biography - 2024

George Kitas MD, PhD, FRCP qualified in Greece in 1985, pursued PhD studies followed by clinical training in Birmingham, UK and was appointed Consultant Rheumatologist at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (Teaching) in 1995, where he was Head of Rheumatology, Clinical Director and R&D Director, until his retirement in 2023. From 2011 he has also been Director of the Centre for the Investigation and Management of Rheumatic Diseases at “Hygeia” Hospital in Athens, Greece. He is Professor of Clinical Rheumatology at the “versus Arthritis” Centre for Epidemiology, Manchester University, of Behavioural Rheumatology at Birmingham University, and of Rheumatology, Musculoskeletal Health and Exercise at Wolverhampton University. He is Chief Editor of the Mediterranean Journal of Rheumatology, has been editorial board member of 6 international journals, expert reviewer for more than 60 international journals, and evaluator for funding bodies and the quality assessment agencies for higher education and research of several countries, including the UK, France, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong and South Africa. He leads the “Rheumatoid Arthritis Co-morbidity Research Group”, has supervised more than 25 MDs and PhDs and has authored more than 600 peer-reviewed original publications and book chapters (current h index 98, >40.000 citations), the majority in the field of cardiovascular comorbidity of rheumatoid arthritis. He has received research grants from multiple sources, including the Medical Research Council, “versus Arthritis”, British Heart Foundation and the pharmaceutical industry. He is/was Chief Investigator of TRACE RA, the largest Academically-led multicentre prospective RCT in RA in the World, founding member of the multidisciplinary West Midlands Rheumatology Forum and the community-based Birmingham Arthritis Resource Centre, Chairman of the West Midlands Rheumatology Services and Training Committee, Regional Specialty Advisor and Associate International Director (Europe) of the Royal College of Physicians of London, member of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) Council, vice-chair of the BSR Heberden Committee, convenor of the BSR Cardiovascular co-morbidity Special Interest Group, member of the EULAR task force on cardiovascular risk management in rheumatic diseases, member of the clinical advisory committee of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society in the UK and Chair of the “National Action Plan for Rheumatology” in Greece. He has been granted several national and international awards, including bronze and silver Clinical Excellence Awards in the UK, honorary doctorates at the Universities of Thessaly and Patras, Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece, the “Boland” Visiting Professorship of Rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic, USA, the “Skou” Honorary Professorship at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, as well as a scientific achievement award by the Academy of Athens.