Valentina Pucino

I am a Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, Department of Rheumatology, University of Birmingham (UK) and. After receiving my MD from the University Federico II, Naples (Italy) (2009), I started my clinical training in Clinical Immunology and Allergy working in the Department of General Medicine and Immuno-Rheumatology, University Federico II, Naples (Italy). During this time, I have not only accrued expertise in the management of patients affected by internist and autoimmune diseases but also performed original research aimed at dissecting the interplay between metabolism and immune-tolerance in autoimmune/inflammatory diseases. During my final year of specialty-training, I joined the William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) where I have been working on a research project aimed at understanding the link between metabolism and chronic inflammation in the RA synovial tissue. These findings have formed the basis of my PhD, recently awarded (2019), supported by the prestigious Versus Arthritis - Clinical Research Fellowship. The integration of basic and translational science that I have already experienced both in Italy and in the UK has further fostered my long-term ambition to become a clinical academic, capable of leading combined and integrated basic and clinical medical research.

For this reason, I have recently relocated to the University of Birmingham, Rheumatology group, where under the guidance of Prof Chris Buckley and his team, I am aiming to obtain a Clinician Scientist Fellowship, further building on a pathway towards academic independence. My current research is focused on dissecting the metabolic pathways driving inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome.