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Rheumatology 1999; 38: 887-901
© 1999 British Society for Rheumatology

Report

Directions in rheumatology: past, present and future

Report of a conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Oliver Bird Fund held at Churchill College Cambridge, 24–26 September 1998

R. Botting and J. Botting1

The William Harvey Research Institute, Saint Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary and Westfield College, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ and
1 51 Woodbourne Avenue, London SW16 1UX, UK

Correspondence to: J. Botting.


   Introduction
 
The Oliver Bird Fund, administered by the Nuffield Foundation, was created by Captain Oliver Bird in 1948, to support research into the causes of rheumatic diseases. He suffered considerably from osteoarthritis (OA) and was keen to relieve the pain of other sufferers. His grandfather was the inventor of eggless custard in powder form, which became the basis of the family fortune. Oliver Bird generously endowed many charitable schemes, including donations to established charities and to hospitals. This conference to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of his fund encompassed all aspects of rheumatic diseases and included talks by eminent scientists who are foremost in their chosen fields of research. As mentioned by many speakers, the huge amount of research over the last 50 yr has not yet provided dramatic cures for rheumatic diseases. However, the vast amount of knowledge acquired, from genetic aspects of joint diseases and osteoporosis to . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Historical perspectives
 

   Current trends in therapeutics
 

   Basic mechanisms of major diseases
 

   Biomolecular basis of rheumatic diseases
 

   Future trends in therapy
 

   Conclusion
 

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