Professor Wan-Fai Ng is an honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital specialising in Sjögren’s syndrome, and Professor of Rheumatology in the Translational and Clinical Research Institute at Newcastle University.
Professor Ng was recently appointed as Director for the NIHR Newcastle Clinical Research Facility – a partnership between the Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle University.
Professor Ng qualified from Cambridge University and completed his Rheumatology training in London. He obtained his PhD in Immunology at the Imperial College, London.
Special interests
Sjögren’s syndrome, fatigue and digital health.
Research
Professor Ng’s research interests focuses on stratified medicine and understanding the biological basis of fatigue including the use of sensor technology and medical device to gain deeper understanding of this complex, disabling symptom as well as biomarker discovery. He is an international leader in Sjögren’s syndrome and fatigue research.
Professor Ng leads several large international and national research consortia, establishing the MRC funded UK primary Sjögren’s syndrome registry (UKPSSR, www.sjogrensregisty.org) in 2009. This registry remains as one of the largest cohorts and biobanks of primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients in the world. The UKPSSR has to date supported >50 national and international research projects including industry collaborations, led to >50 peer-reviewed publications, and leveraged an additional £50M in grant awards. Professor Ng is a founding convenor of the European Sjögren’s syndrome study group – eSSENTIAL, and the coordinator of the EU Innovative Medicine Initiatives consortium, IDEA-FAST (www.idea-fast.eu).
Professor Ng also works closely with biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies in the development of novel therapies for Sjögren’s syndrome, and serves as chief investigator and principal investigator for many early phase clinical trials/experimental medicine studies in Sjögren’s syndrome. Professor Ng has won over £60m in grant income in the past 5 years as principal or co-investigator, published over 130 peer-reviewed articles, 7 book chapters, edited a pocket book on Sjögren’s syndrome (Oxford University Press) and regularly speaks at national and international meetings.
