Staff Profile
Emerita Professor Helen Foster
Emerita Professor
- Address: Population and Health Institute
Baddiley Clarke Building
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Introduction
Helen graduated from Newcastle University medical school in 1985 and then trained in adult medicine, adult rheumatology and subsequently general paediatrics and paediatric rheumatology with a clinical fellowship in Vancouver, Canada.She has worked in the National Health Service (NHS) UK as a Consultant since 1995 at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Helen was appointed as Clinical Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Rheumatology 2001 at Newcastle University and awarded a Personal Chair in 2008.
She is champion of best practice and advocate for 'right care'. She has represented paediatric rheumatology at a national and international level to develop and implement changes in clinical practice, training and research. In various national roles she led change in clinical care delivery and training across the UK, NHS England Specialist Commissioning in paediatric rheumatology and development of European Recommendations for Transitional care. She contributed to NICE guidelines for biologics in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and NICE guidance with ‘Rightpath’ (http://www.rightpath.solutions) as a validated community based model of musculoskeletal (MSK) triage in the community. She is member of the WHO Expert Panel for MSK health (2021), contributed to WHO guidance (Chronic pain 2020) and proposals to change the WHO Essentials Medicine List for Joint Diseases (2020). Her academic work research has focused on identifying, describing and addressing barriers and drivers to right care. Key achievements include novel clinical tools (pGALS, pREMS) widely embedded in clinical education and a portfolio of e-resources called Paediatric Musculoskeletal Matters - PMM (http://www.pmmonline.org) - which is a free and open resource targeting medical students, community care and general paediatricians around the world. PMM was transferred to the Paediatric Rheumatology European Society in May 2022 for long term sustainability and growth.
Helen worked at Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia 2018-2020 and set up the Paediatric Global MSK Task Force with a ‘call to action’ to promote better MSK health for all children.
She retired from the NHS in November 2021. Following her appointment to Emerita Professor in November 2021 she plans to continue her work to promote paediatric global MSK health and to improve access to right care.
Current Roles and Responsibilities
Founder and Co-Chair Paediatric Global Musculoskeletal Task Force
Founder and Clinical Director Paediatric Musculoskeletal Matters Portfolio
Member of Expert Review Panel World Health Organisation Musculoskeletal Health
Member Global Alliance Musculoskeletal Health and Chair Paediatric Task Force
Advisor Public Health England Musculoskeletal Framework
Advisor to Versus Arthritis Charity
Pediatric Rheumatology Online Journal Editorial Board
Academic secretary
Janet Herdman
Research Interests
Our work aims to improve access to care for children with musculoskeletal problems; to identify, describe and understand the barriers and drivers to care and through evidence based strategy, proposals to address unmet need. Our work has contributed to education and training of the workforce, standards of care, models of practice and NICE guidance.
Key Interventions include:
- Novel evidence based educational resources targeting all health care professionals involved in care pathways for children - pGALS, pREMS and the PMM Portfolio.
- Models of care in the community to facilitate earlier diagnosis and access to specialist care - RightPath, pGALSplus
- Impact and reach of e-technologies - PMM Portfolio (website, apps and e-modules) and telemedicine.
- The WHO Essential Medicines List for Joint Diseases in children to facilitate access to treatments.
Our work has progressed to the wider health care context, in partnership together with stakeholders from low and middle resource income countries around the world with efforts to raise awareness, workforce capacity build and lobbying for change through policy and guidelines.
Our work has been funded from grants and unrestricted educational bursaries and our research is driven by a motivated multi-professional interdisciplinary team who share a vision of working better together.
- McLaughlin D, Keir M, Foster H, Jandial S. Chronic arthritis in children and young people. Medicine 2022, 50(3), 149-158.
- Briggs AM, Huckel Schneider C, Slater H, Jordan JE, Parambath S, Young JJ, Sharma S, Kopansky-Giles D, Mishrra S, Akesson KE, Ali N, Belton J, Betteridge N, Blyth FM, Brown R, Debere D, Dreinhofer KE, Finucane L, Foster HE, Gimigliano F, Haldeman S, Haq SA, Horgan B, Jain A, Joshipura M, Kalla AA, Lothe J, Matsuda S, Mobasheri A, Mwaniki L, Nordin MC, Pattison M, Reis FJJ, Soriano ER, Tick H, Waddell J, Wiek D, Woolf AD, March L. Health systems strengthening to arrest the global disability burden: Empirical development of prioritised components for a global strategy for improving musculoskeletal health. BMJ Global Health 2021, 6(6), e006045.
- Scott C, Smith N, James R, Whitehead B, Green R, Foster HE. Revising the WHO Essential Medicines List for paediatric rheumatology. Pediatric Rheumatology 2021, 19, 10.
- Tangcheewinsirikul S, Tang S-P, Smith N, Sukharomana M, Charuvanij S, Vilaiyuk S, Arkachaisri T, Scott C, Foster HE. Delivery of paediatric rheumatology care: a survey of current clinical practice in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific regions. Pediatric Rheumatology 2021, 19(1), 11.
- Smith N, Foster HE, Jandial S. A mixed methods evaluation of the Paediatric Musculoskeletal Matters (PMM) online portfolio. Pediatric Rheumatology 2021, 19(1), 85.
- Rapley T, May C, Smith N, Foster HE. ‘Snakes & Ladders’: factors influencing access to appropriate care for children and young people with suspected juvenile idiopathic arthritis – a qualitative study. Pediatric Rheumatology 2021, 19(1), 43.
- McDonagh JE, Tattersall R, Clinch J, Swan J, Foster HE, McCann L. Developmentally appropriate transitional care during the Covid-19 pandemic for young people with juvenile-onset rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases: the rationale for a position statement. Pediatric Rheumatology 2021, 19(1), 136.
- Foster HE, Scott C, Tiderius CJ, Dobbs MB. The paediatric global musculoskeletal task force - 'towards better MSK health for all'. Pediatric Rheumatology 2020, 18(1), 60.
- Foster HE, Scott C, Tiderius CJ, Dobbs MB. Improving musculoskeletal health for children and young people – A 'call to action'. Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology 2020, 34(5), 101566.
- Shenoi S, Hayward K, Curran ML, Kessler E, Mehta JJ, Riebschleger MP, Foster HE. Telemedicine in pediatric rheumatology: this is the time for the community to embrace a new way of clinical practice. Pediatric Rheumatology 2020, 18(1), 85.
- Al Maini M, Al Weshahi Y, Foster HE, Chehade MJ, Gabriel SE, Saleh JA, Al Wahshi H, Bijlsma JWJ, Cutolo M, Lakhanpal S, Venkatramana M, Pineda C, Woolf AD. A global perspective on the challenges and opportunities in learning about rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases in undergraduate medical education: White paper by the World Forum on Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (WFRMD). Clinical Rheumatology 2020, 39, 627-642.
- Davies R, De Cock D, Kearsley-Fleet L, Southwood T, Baildam E, Beresford MW, Foster HE, Thomson W, Ramanan AV, Hyrich KL. The risk of uveitis in patients with JIA receiving etanercept: the challenges of analysing real-world data. Rheumatology 2020, 59(6), 1391-1397.
- Shoop-Worral SJW, Hyrich K, Verstappen SMM, Sergeant JC, Baildam E, Chieng A, Davidson J, Foster H, Ioannou Y, McErlane F, Wedderburn LR, Thomson W, McDonagh JE. Comparing Proxy, Adolescent, and Adult Assessments of Functional Ability in Adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Arthritis Care and Research 2020, 72(4), 517-524.
- Jones AP, Clayton D, Nkhoma G, Sherratt FC, Peak M, Stones SR, Roper L, Young B, McErlane F, Moitt T, Ramanan AV, Foster HE, Williamson PR, Deepak S, Beresford MW, Baildam EM. Different corticosteroid induction regimens in children and young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: the SIRJIA mixed-methods feasibility study. Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) 2020, 24(36), 1-152.
- Smith EMD, Ainsworth S, Beresford MW, Buys V, Costello W, Egert Y, Foster HE, Lamot L, Prakken BJ, Scott C, Stones SR. Establishing an international awareness day for paediatric rheumatic diseases: Reflections from the inaugural World Young Rheumatic Diseases (WORD) Day 2019. Pediatric Rheumatology 2020, 18, 71.
- Kearsley-Fleet L, Heaf E, Davies R, Baildam E, Beresford MW, Foster HE, Southwood TR, Thomson W, Hyrich KL. Frequency of biologic switching and the outcomes of switching in children and young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a national cohort study. The Lancet Rheumatology 2020, 2(4), e217-e226.
- Dave M, Rankin J, Pearce MS, Foster H. Global prevalence estimates of three chronic musculoskeletal conditions: clubfoot, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus. Pediatric Rheumatology 2020, 18, 49.
- Smith N, Mercer V, Firth J, Jandial S, Kinsey K, Light H, Nye A, Rapley T, Foster HE. RightPath: a model of community-based musculoskeletal care for children. Rheumatology Advances in Practice 2020, 4(2), rkaa057.
- Foster HE, Scott C. Update the WHO EML to improve global paediatric rheumatology. Nature Reviews Rheumatology 2020, 16, 123.
- Dolezalova P, Anton J, Avcin T, Beresford MW, Brogan PA, Constantin T, Egert Y, Foeldvari I, Foster HE, Hentgen V, KonePaut I, KuemmerleDeschner JB, Lahdenne P, Magnusson Bo, Martini A, McCann L, Minden K, Ozen S, Schoemaker C, Quartier P, Ravelli A, RumbaRozenfelde I, Ruperto N, Vastert S, Wouters C, Zulian F, Wulffraat NM. The European network for care of children withpaediatric rheumatic diseases: care across borders. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2019.
- Scott C, Chan M, Slamang W, Okong'o L, Petty R, Laxer RM, Katsicas M-M, Fredrick F, Chipeta J, Faller G, Pileggi G, Saad-Magalhaes C, Wouters C, Foster HE, Kubchandani R, Ruperto N, Russo R. Juvenile arthritis management in less resourced countries (JAMLess): consensus recommendations from the Cradle of Humankind. Clinical Rheumatology 2019, 38(2), 563-575.