Professor Graham Hughes is an internationally renowned rheumatologist who has specialised in lupus and its related syndrome, antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), also known eponymously as Hughes syndrome. He led the research team which identified Hughes syndrome as a separate condition and treated patients accordingly.
He has also contributed widely to the understanding of lupus and its treatment in this country and internationally. Today, all over the world these conditions have been transformed from feared, often fatal and little understood diseases to the point where disease management allows most patients to look forward to leading a normal life.
Graham has accomplished this by devoting his life to the education of patients and the medical profession about lupus and Hughes syndrome, with a substantial part of this work being carried out on a pro bono basis. Through his research, his lecturing, his commitment to the wellbeing of his patients and his founding of three dedicated charities, he has enormously elevated the awareness of these conditions to the wider world, for little financial reward.
Graham is the only doctor to be living today who has a condition named after him, a testament to his seminal role in the discovery and treatment of Hughes syndrome.