Dr. Jacquie HARPER (New Zealand)

Dr Jacquie Harper completed her PhD in Chemistry and Physiology at Otago University in 1995. After a short post doc with the Physiology Dept at Otago Dr Harper took up a Fogarty Research Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health from 1996-1999 at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Upon returning to New Zealand in 2000 she implemented a drug discovery program to identify novel anti-inflammatory agents including the targeting of neutrophil activation in gout. Dr Harper is currently the head of the Arthritis and Inflammation Group at the Malaghan Institute research where her clinical and basic research interests are currently focussed on the role of innate immune cells in the onset, progression and suppression of inflammation in gouty arthritis.