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Exploring the History of Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

, –
Past
  • Free
  • Discussion
  • Relaxed
A photograph of people standing around a table looking at materials. Several old books of varying size are resting in foam holders.
An event in the Viewing Room at Wellcome Collection, Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

What you’ll do

Join us in the viewing room to explore a selection of archival records depicting historic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. 

We will be looking at examples of historic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis before exploring the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research Archive. The archive focuses on the ground-breaking discovery of anti-TNF treatment. Anti-TNF is a biological therapy developed in the 1990s designed to target the cause of inflammation in the bodies of people with rheumatoid arthritis.

You will hear from speakers connected to anti-TNF therapy as they share historic, scientific, and personal perspectives on the impact of biologics for inflammatory disease. You will then be invited to look at archival records relating to rheumatoid arthritis and anti-TNF. 

There will be a chance to respond to the materials, discuss and ask questions. We are especially interested in hearing from people with lived experience of rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory disease, and those who have used anti-TNF treatment. 

This is a relaxed event with both standing and sitting room.

Dates

, –
Past

Need to know

Location

We’ll be in the Viewing Room. It’s next to the Library entrance on level 2, which you can reach by taking the lift or the stairs.

Waiting list

If this event is fully booked, you may still be able to attend. We will operate a waiting list, which opens 30 minutes before this event starts. Arrive early, and we’ll give you a numbered ticket. If there are any unfilled places just before the start time, we will invite you to enter in order of ticket number.

Place not guaranteed

Booking a ticket for a free event does not guarantee you a place. You should aim to arrive 15 minutes before the event is scheduled to start to claim your place. If you do not arrive on time, your place may be given to someone on the waiting list.

Relaxed

This is a relaxed event, which means that if you need to, you are welcome to move around and make noise at any time.

For more information, please visit our Accessibility page. If you have any queries about accessibility, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call

Our event terms and conditions

About your contributors

Annie Lord

(she/her)
Facilitator

Annie Lord is a cataloguing archivist at Wellcome Collection. Her current work involves cataloguing the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research Archive.

Richard Williams

Speaker

Professor Richard Williams is a group leader at the University of Oxford, having previously worked at Imperial College London and the Babraham Institute in Cambridge. His work is based mainly around the development of novel therapies for autoimmune disease. He was involved in the early development of anti-TNF antibody as a therapeutic modality and continues to work on refining the concept. 

Helen Saxon Jones

Speaker

Helen Saxon Jones is a volunteering business partner at Versus Arthritis. Helen was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of ten, and in an era pre-dating biological therapies, Helen spent much of her childhood in pain and in hospital with a poor prognosis, until the advent of anti-TNF and an incredible pivot. Helen speaks honestly about life under the dark cloud of childhood disability through chronic illness in the 1980s and 1990s. She shares her extraordinary experience of an adulthood made possible with a dash of determination, a sprinkle of humour and a bucket-load of science.

Versus Arthritis

Collaborator

Versus Arthritis is the UK's largest charity dedicated to supporting people with arthritis.Over 10 million people in the UK have arthritis. That’s one in six people living with the pain, fatigue, lack of mobility and dexterity it can cause. The impact is huge as these conditions can intrude on everyday life – affecting the ability to work, care for a family, to move free from pain and live independently. Yet arthritis is often dismissed as an inevitable part of ageing or shrugged off as ‘just a bit of arthritis’. We don’t think this is OK. Versus Arthritis is here to change that.

Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research

Collaborator

The Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research was created in 1965 and was formerly known as the Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology Research. It was the first research institute in the world totally dedicated to the causes and cures of rheumatic disease. Between the 1980s and 2000s the Kennedy Institute and their collaborators, funders, scientists and industry partners developed and licensed anti-TNF treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Today the Kennedy Trust continues to fund research into inflammatory disease, and the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology is a biomedical research centre based at the University of Oxford.