1969–Becomes senior registrar at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital
1971–Becomes research fellow in rheumatology at UCLA
1972–Becomes consultant rheumatologist at Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath and Southmead Hospital in Bristol
1981–Becomes ARC chair and head of rheumatology at the University of Birmingham
1988–Completes sabbatical year at the NIH
2001–Becomes professor of rheumatology at the University of Birmingham
Collaborations Make It Interesting
Referring to his diverse background, Dr. Bacon remarks, “You see, I’m a bit of mixed-up kid.” But it was this varied background, he believes, that has allowed him to accomplish productive collaborations across disciplines and across continents. “Without collaborations,” he notes, “you cannot move forward in these rare diseases, because you need different sorts of expertise coming into it.”
His current major project, bringing to completion a disease activity index for Takayasu’s arteritis, has been taking him to India each year. The disease is much more common in Asia. “We saw one or two cases of Takayasu’s a year in our vasculitis clinic in Birmingham. In the referral center in Vellore, South India, they have 170-plus cases,” he says. Dr. Bacon has been instrumental in fostering investigator-driven studies, says Rohini Handa, MD, senior consultant rheumatologist for Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi, India, and current president of the Indian Rheumatology Association. “Paul is willing to act as a catalyst and then steps back to let others occupy center stage. He has this ability to bring out these strengths in individuals who might otherwise have been reticent to contribute, and use those strengths in connecting the group.”
Dr. Hunder agrees. In his dealings with Dr. Bacon, he has always noticed that “he takes a scientific approach, has a practical attitude, and shares any results with others [who] have helped to make progress in his work. He is a very friendly, outgoing, and open person, and has a great attitude.”
The development of the Indian Takayasu Activity Score “is almost like a mission for him,” marvels Dr. Handa. “He’s been like a man possessed. When the team slows down, he does not let the group lose focus.” The score is in the final stages of validation and will then be submitted for publication.
In the meantime, when Dr. Bacon is at home in Birmingham, he is still active as chair of the Birmingham Arthritis Resource Centre, which emanated from a needs assessment conducted in 2000 revealing that immigrant and minority patients with rheumatoid conditions were being underserved. The center provides educational material and support to the city’s ethnic populations, which have poor access to standard National Health Service medical services, he says. Echoing the results of two recent national surveys, Dr. Bacon says, “treatment of arthritis isn’t just [giving] drugs for the disease—it requires social support and education, all the things we’re trying to do.”
