George Kitas MD, PhD, FRCP qualified in Greece, pursued PhD studies followed by clinical training in Birmingham, UK and is/has been Head of Rheumatology, Clinical Director, R&D Director and Deputy Medical Director at the Dudley Group NHS FT (Teaching), Professor of Clinical Rheumatology at Manchester, of Behavioural Rheumatology at Birmingham and of Rheumatology, Musculoskeletal Health and Exercise at Wolverhampton Universities, and from 2011 Director of Rheumatology at “Hygeia” Hospital and Visiting Professor in Greece. He is Chief Editor of the MJR, reviewer for >50 journals, and evaluator for funding bodies and the quality assessment agencies for higher education and research of 8 countries. He leads the “Rheumatoid Arthritis Co-morbidity Research Group”, has supervised >20 MDs and PhDs and has authored >500 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters (current h index 85, >30000 citations). He has been granted several awards, including the Academy of Athens Prize, bronze and silver Clinical Excellence Awards in the UK, honorary doctorates at the Universities of Thessaly and Patras and Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece, the “Boland” Visiting Professorship of Rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic Medical School, USA and the “Skou” Honorary Professorship at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.