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Staff Profile

Dr Ken Baker

NIHR Advanced Fellow, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist

  • Email: kenneth.baker@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: Translational and Clinical Research Institute
    Room M4.089, 4rd Floor, William Leech Building
    Medical School, Newcastle University
Background

Dr Kenneth F Baker, PhD, MRes, BA(Hons), BMBCh, MRCP(UK), PGCert(Med Ed) 

NIHR Advanced Fellow, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist

 

I am a clinical academic rheumatologist working at Newcastle University and The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. My work combines experimental medicine clinical trials, laboratory immunological phenotyping and qualitative research to better understand and predict flare and drug-free remission in rheumatoid arthritis.


Current Roles

NIHR Advanced Fellow and Clinical Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University

Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust


Other current responsibilities

1. Chair of Versus Arthritis Research Advisory Committee for Adult Inflammatory Arthritis (2024-present)

2. Member of British Society for Rheumatology Heberden Committee (annual conference scientific organising committee (2022-present)

3. Clinical Academic member of the national JRCPTB Rheumatology Specialist Advisory Committee (2023-present)


Qualifications

2018: PhD ("Predictors of drug-free remission in rheumatoid arthritis", Newcastle University)

2016: PGCertMedEd (Dundee University)

2014: MRes in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (Newcastle University)

2011: MRCP(UK) (Royal College of Physicians of London)

2008: BM BCh (Oxford University, Merton College)

2005: BA(Hons) Medical Sciences (Oxford University, Merton College)

Research

The work of my research team focuses on rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a common disease affecting 1 in 100 adults where the immune system mistakenly attacks the joints, causing pain, stiffness and swelling. Historically RA was difficult to control for many patients, and joint destruction and disability were commonplace. In contrast, modern treat-to-target regimens of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) now allow over two-thirds of patients to achieve disease remission by suppressing the immune system. However, these powerful drugs carry potentially severe risks including toxicity and infection, require regular blood tests, and are costly and time-consuming to prescribe and monitor. We and others have shown through clinical trials of DMARD withdrawal that half of patients with RA in remission can reduce or stop DMARDs without a flare of their arthritis. However, it is currently impossible to accurately predict this in the clinic.


My research team aims to:

1. Discover biomarkers of immune phenotype and function to predict flare and drug-free remission, and further develop these towards assays that could be used to guide DMARD tapering in the clinic

2. Characterise the immunological processes underpinning rheumatoid arthritis flare and remission, to identify potential novel ways to treat and prevent arthritis flares

3. Develop new ways to remotely monitor for flare using wearable technology, to help detect flare earlier in patients who are reducing (tapering) their drugs

4. Understand the patient perspective of drug tapering and drug-free remission, to help support shared treatment decisions between patients and their rheumatology team


Current research team members:

Dr Jasmine Sim, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Miss Sofia Sorbet-Santiago, PhD Student


My current and previous research grants to-date (PI and Fellowships) total £2.3m. My active research grants include:

  1. "Beyond Remission": NIHR Advanced Fellowship, 1.2m (2024-2028). A 4-year fellowship which aims to better understand patient decision-making in drug tapering, detect early warning signals of arthritis flare during drug-tapering using wearable technology, and to understand the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of drug-tapering strategies in routine clinical practice.
  2. The SustaINed drug-Free remissiON in rheumatoId Arthritis (SINFONIA) study : Foundation for Research in Rheumatology (FOREUM), €600k (2023-2026, Chief Investigator). An international multi-centre study with collaborators in Leiden, Erlangen-Nuremburg and Northumbria universities to identify and validate biomarkers of drug-free remission, to characterise the immune mechanisms underpinning this, and to understand the experience of patients living with rheumatoid arthritis in sustained drug-free remission.
Teaching

I have supervised 5 PhD students:

  1. Sofia Sorbet-Santiago (2022-present) - new techniques for automated analysis of flow cytometry data, and using machine learning to predict arthritis flare and drug-free remission
  2. Nana Aboagye (2023-present) - digital biomarkers of fatigue in chronic disease
  3. Billy Smith (2023-present) – digital measures of circadian rhythm in epilepsy
  4. Dr Jasmine Sim (2020-2023) - predicting and understanding drug-free remission in rheumatoid arthritis
  5. Dr Fiona Rayner (2018-2021) - biological factors that limit sustained remission in rheumatoid arthritis


I have also supervised one MRes student:

Tom Bradley (2024)


I have examined three PhD theses as external examiner:

  1. Anabelle Nicole Smith (Glasgow University, 2024)
  2. Luc Francis (King's College London, 2024)
  3. Hira Noman (Manchester University, 2023)


I have been educational supervisor for two rheumatology clinical trainees, and am a personal tutor for students on the Masters of Clinical Research course at Newcastle University.

Publications