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Dr Felice Rivellese, MD, PhD

Felice

Clinical Senior Lecturer

Centre: Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology

Email: f.rivellese@qmul.ac.uk

Profile

ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6759-7521

Felice Rivellese studied Medicine at the University of Naples Federico II. During the final years of his speciality training in Clinical Immunology, with the support of a EULAR bursary and of an ARTICULUM (now FOREUM) fellowship, he attended the Department of Rheumatology at Leiden University as a visiting research fellow, where he studied the involvement of cells of the innate immunity in the pathogenesis of inflammatory arthritis.

In 2014, he moved to the Centre of Experimental Medicine & Rheumatology at Queen Mary University of London, led by Prof Costantino Pitzalis, and he was awarded a Marie-Curie fellowship, with a project on the Study of Mast cells in Rheumatoid Arthritis, which was also the focus of his PhD in Clinical Pathophysiology and Experimental Medicine, with sub specialization in Immunological and Rheumatologic Sciences (PhD thesis).  

In 2018, he was awarded a Transitional Research Fellowship by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), with a project on the study of Synovial B cells to inform treatment response in Rheumatoid Arthritis (SyBRA). During this time, he transitioned from basic/laboratory research to clinical research, acquiring new skills in clinical trials, epidemiology, and bioinformatics, as he was actively involved in the setup, delivery, and analysis of stratified medicine clinical trials in inflammatory arthritis.

Since January 2022, Dr. Rivellese has served as a Clinical Senior Lecturer, a position supported by the NIHR Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). Within the BRC, he leads the EMR Clinical Research Team, focusing on the development and implementation of precision medicine strategies in musculoskeletal health.  This includes direct involvement  as Principal investigator in precision-medicine clinical trials, where he oversees joint ultrasound assessments and ultrasound-guided synovial biopsies, and coordinates a team of research nurses, clinical trial practitioners, and clinical fellows.

Dr. Rivellese is the Principal Investigator (PI) at QMUL for MDR-RA, a large-scale, EU-funded research initiative launched in January 2025 to tackle Multi-Drug Resistant Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Dr Rivellese also actively contributes to the advancement of rheumatology research through his service on international committees, including being an active member of the EULAR Research Committee since 2021 and serving as a Past-Chair (2021-2022) of the EMEUNET (Emerging EULAR Network) Committee and past-member of the EULAR Council. He is also an active member of EULAR and the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR) and an Associate Member of the Royal College of Physicians.

Further information

Research

Group members:

MDR-RA EMR Team

  • Federico Abatecola (PhD Student)
  • Salvatore Iaquinta (PhD Student)
  • Marta Sobrado (PhD candidate and Research Nurse)

Mile-End Clinical Research Team

  • Marta Sobrado, Winifred Chimah (Research nurses)
  • Ayat Ahzar, Ilaxsiga Indrakumar  (Clinical Trial Practitioners)
  • Mayisha Chowdhury (Clinical Trial Coordinator)
  • Dr Susan Wang (Clinical Lecturer)
  • Dr James Perera, Dr Fatima Ahmad (Clinical Fellows)

Innate immunity and inflammatory arthritis

My early research focused on the role of innate immune cells, particularly mast cells, in inflammatory arthritis. I demonstrated that mast cells infiltrate the joints of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, contributing to B cell activation and autoantibody production(Rivellese et al, Ann Rheum Dis. 2018 Dec;77(12):1773-1781). Furthermore, my research revealed the complex immunomodulatory functions of mast cells, capable of inducing both pro- and anti-inflammatory responses depending on the stimuli (Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015 Sep;67(9):2343-53).

Stratified medicine clinical trials: from bench to bedside

Following the award of an NIHR Transitional Research fellowship, I focused on translating laboratory findings to clinical practice by studying joint samples from patients in three stratified medicine trials in Rheumatoid Arthritis: PEAC (early untreated arthritis), STRAP (first-line medication failure), and R4RA (1st biologic failure). Notably, a post-hoc analysis of the R4RA trial, published in Nature Medicine, provided the first insights into Multi-Drug resistant Rheumatoid Arthritis, shaping my current research focus.

Current/future research

My current research builds upon previous findings by integrating histological and molecular data to develop predictive models of treatment response in Rheumatoid Arthritis. This precision medicine approach is exemplified by my leadership role as local PI for the IMI-EU-funded 3TR trials, two multi-centre, biopsy-driven clinical trials investigating personalized treatment strategies based on biomarker-driven approaches.

A key focus of my current research is understanding and overcoming Multi-Drug Resistant Rheumatoid Arthritis. This focus has culminated in the award of a €8.4 million EU grant on MDR-RA, enabling in-depth investigation of this complex condition and the development of novel treatment approaches.  

To delve deeper into the complexities of treatment resistance, my research group is pursuing several key lines of investigation. Federico Abatecola, a PhD student, is focused on understanding the role of stromal cells, such as fibroblasts, in multi-drug resistant Rheumatoid Arthritis (MDR-RA). Another PhD student, Salvatore Iaquinta, is investigating the contributions of innate and adaptive immunity in MDR-RA. Additionally, research nurse Marta Sobrado is examining the impact of socioeconomic factors on MDR-RA patients, a particularly relevant area of study for the East London patient community.

Active Roles in Clinical Trials

As Principal investigator: BSRBR (IRAS 64202); Squeeze Bio-Test (IRAS 330277); 3TR Precis-The-RA (IRAS 289895; 3TR Partner-RA (IRAS No. 311470, in set-up); Phospho-Tof-RA (IRAS 254455);

As Sub-investigator: PEAC/PEsAC (NIHR CRN Portfolio Study ID 5339); R4RA (EudraCT 2012-002535-28); STRAP (EudraCT 2014-003529-16); CReMSIA (NIHR CRN Portfolio Study ID: 37570).

More details on Clinical Trials undergoing at the Centre for Experimental Medicine and Rheumatology can be found here.

Publications

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Collaborators

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MDR-RA team:

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