Professional background

Pedro Machado FRCP PhD, is a professor and consultant in rheumatology and neuromuscular diseases at University College London (UCL), University College Hospital (UCH), National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) and Northwick Park Hospital. He is a principal investigator at the UCL Department of Neuromuscular Diseases (Institute of Neurology) and at the UCL Centre for Rheumatology (Division of Medicine). Professor Machado runs both specialist spondyloarthritis (rheumatology department) and myopathy (neuromuscular department) clinics.

His research interests include the investigation of new therapeutic strategies and the assessment and prediction of outcomes in rheumatic diseases, with a focus on muscle diseases and axial spondyloarthritis. More recently he developed an interest in COVID-19, particularly in the outcome of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic and neuromuscular diseases. 

He has published over 220 articles and seven book chapters. He has been awarded over £6 million research funding, including four research fellowships. He has won 13 scientific prizes. He is the past-chair of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Standing Committee on Epidemiology and Health Services Research (SCEHSR), and a member of the COVID–19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Steering Committee, the EULAR-COVID-19 Registry steering group, the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS) Executive Committee, the British Society of Spondyloarthritis (BRITSpA), the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR), The American College of Rheumatology (ACR), The Portuguese Society of Rheumatology (SPR), The International Myositis Assessment & Clinical Studies Group (IMACS), The Muscle Study Group (MSG), and The British Myology Society (BMS). He is also past-chair (2013–2014) of the Emerging EULAR Network (EMEUNET). He is a member of the Editorial Board of the journals RMD Open, Best Practice & Research: Clinical Rheumatology, and Acta Reumatológica Portuguesa.

Research interests

  • Spondyloarthritis
  • Myositis/neuromuscular diseases
  • Musculoskeletal Imaging
  • Clinical trials
  • Epidemiology
  • COVID-19