MRC Council member
Professor Iain McInnes is a member of the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Council.
Iain McInnes is Head of the College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, and Vice Principal of the University of Glasgow. He also serves as the Muirhead Professor of Medicine and Arthritis UK Professor of Rheumatology in the university. He is former Director of the Versus Arthritis Centre of Excellence for Inflammatory Arthritis, led from Glasgow and including the universities of Oxford, Newcastle, and Birmingham.
He is a Deputy Chair of the Board of Arthritis UK. Iain is also the past chair of FOREUM (Foundation for European Rheumatology Research) Scientific Committee and now sits on FOREUM Board as a trustee. He will become President of FOREUM in June 2026.
He is Past-President of the European Alliance of Rheumatology Associations. Under these auspices he led the creation of the first pan-European Rheumatology Research Centre launched in 2021.
Iain’s work is mainly focused upon the understanding of the pathogenesis of immune mediated inflammatory diseases. It encompasses basic discovery immunology through phase one and proof of concept experimental medicine clinical trials to leadership of pivotal phase three trials in immune biology. He has served on a number of scientific advisory groups adjacent to the pharmaceutical industry, mainly in the area of development of novel immune modifying agents.
Iain has published more than 650 peer-reviewed original and review articles with an h-index of more than 160, equating to more than 125,000 citations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2019 by Queen Elizabeth II.
Last updated: 1 April 2026