Rate My Professor Neil Basu

Professor Neil Basu is Professor of Musculoskeletal Medicine & Vasculitis in the School of Infection & Immunity at the University of Glasgow. He holds the qualifications MBChB, FRCP, and PhD. He originally trained at the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen and most recently worked at the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Centre at the University of Michigan. As a clinician-scientist rheumatologist, Professor Basu maintains an active clinical practice as an Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology and Immunology. His career is marked by leadership in translational research groups, including co-leadership of the Neuroinflammatory Phenotypes Research Group and principal investigator role in the Translational Neuroinflammation Group.

Professor Basu's research programmes address critical unmet needs in rheumatology, focusing on the epidemiology of systemic vasculitis and the neuroimmunological mechanisms driving central nervous system-determined behaviours such as pain and fatigue in inflammatory rheumatic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. His multi-disciplinary approaches integrate pre-clinical models investigating immune cell migration into the brain and clinical studies utilizing advanced neuroimaging, including 7T MRI, to map brain connectivity and neurobiological hubs like the insula. Key publications include 'Spatial profiling of giant cell arteritis tissues reveals immune heterogeneity and potential predictors of glucocorticoid response' (Ansalone et al., Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 2026), 'The insula represents a key neurobiological pain hub in psoriatic arthritis' (Sunzini et al., Arthritis Research & Therapy, 2025), '18F-FDG-PET/MR imaging to monitor disease activity in large vessel vasculitis' (Pugh et al., Nature Communications, 2024), and 'Characterizing the neurobiological mechanisms of action of exercise and cognitive–behavioral interventions for rheumatoid arthritis fatigue' (Dehsarvi et al., Arthritis & Rheumatology, 2024). In the last six years up to 2023, he authored 53 publications, 28 as first or senior author, accumulating over 1000 citations per year. Professor Basu has secured 12 grants as principal investigator totalling £2.6 million and contributed as co-investigator to 17 grants totalling £58.4 million from UKRI, EU, NIHR, CSO, Versus Arthritis, and industry. His contributions earned the British Society of Rheumatology's Michael Mason Award for research excellence in 2020, and in 2025, the University of Glasgow rheumatology unit received EULAR Centre of Excellence recognition.