Muhammad Shipa

• Principal Investigator, University College London, London, United Kingdom
• Consultant Rheumatologist, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom

Muhammad Shipa (K-58) is one of the United Kingdom’s leading lupus experts and serves as clinical lead of one of Europe’s foremost lupus centres at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), London. He is an experimental clinical academic at UCL, leading cutting-edge research programmes in lupus and related immune-mediated diseases. As a clinician–scientist whose work seamlessly bridges bench and bedside, he collaborates closely with national and international partners, including major academic centres across the world.

Alongside leading the lupus service at UCLH, he serves as an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Cambridge University Hospitals and Visiting Consultant Scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the UK’s national genome research centre. He is an active member of the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG), where he contributes to education and communication, and plays an ongoing role in policy and guideline implementation for lupus care in the UK. He also contributes to the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) as a member and reviewer, and has previously been part of the EULAR young rheumatologists’ network (EMEUNET), where he has chaired and anchored scientific sessions and hosted EULAR TV in 2023 and 2024.

At UCLH, Shipa not only leads a high-volume tertiary referral service but also hosts and mentors visiting consultants and trainees from across Europe, Australia, and Asia. UCLH has been at the forefront of lupus therapeutics, pioneering B‑cell–targeted treatment including early use of rituximab in severe lupus, and contributing to the development and evaluation of novel biologic combinations. Shipa has played a central role in these efforts as first author of the BEAT‑Lupus trial, a UK multicentre study demonstrating that adding belimumab after rituximab improves key serological and clinical outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus, with results published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. For this work he received a prestigious Junior Investigator Award from the American College of Physicians and was subsequently invited to act as a research mentor within that community.

Drawing on his expertise in machine learning and translational immunology, Shipa is co‑inventor of an international patent for a novel biomarker – an IgA2 anti‑dsDNA antibody signature – that predicts which patients are most likely to respond to combined B‑cell–targeted therapy. This work led to the award of an international patent, underscoring its originality and translational potential in lupus care. The patented biomarker underpins STRATIFY Lupus, the first biomarker‑enriched clinical trial in lupus, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Arthritis UK with multi‑million‑pound investment to deliver precision treatment for patients with refractory disease.In parallel, he serves as principal investigator on cutting‑edge therapeutic studies, including trials of next‑generation biologics such as trispecific antibodies in lupus.

Within BILAG‑UK, Shipa is closely involved in national guideline implementation and advanced lupus education, helping to design and deliver courses that shape specialist training across the country. He has led or contributed to digital resources for clinicians and research, including web‑based education and research studies.  Having secured support from the UCL clinical excellence fellowship and Biomedical Research Centre at UCLH, he now leads his own research group as principal investigator, supervising PhD and MRes students and building a programme that spans B‑cell and monocyte biology, transcriptomics, and the integration of multi‑omics data using artificial intelligence.

His current projects extend from microbiome and metagenomic profiling in systemic autoimmunity to early‑stage work on in vivo CAR‑T and related cellular approaches in lupus, aiming to translate experimental immunology into durable clinical remission. He has published as first or senior author in high‑impact rheumatology and internal medicine journals and is a sought‑after speaker, delivering invited and keynote lectures at the British Society for Rheumatology and EULAR meetings.

Shipa’s journey in rheumatology began with his MBBS and early clinical training at Dhaka Medical College, followed by MRCP (UK) and specialist rheumatology training in the Central and North London Deanery. A PhD in lupus at University College London cemented his ambition to work as an “experimental rheumatologist”, using rigorous science to change outcomes for patients with severe and complex disease. He often reflects that there is no real limit to what can be achieved with sustained commitment, clear focus and the resilience to pursue long‑term goals in science and medicine.

Behind these professional roles, Shipa is a devoted husband and brother who treasures time with his family and finds peace in simple pleasures such as fishing. He regards his career as a privilege granted by the Almighty, an opportunity to serve patients across borders and to contribute, even in a small way, to alleviating the burden of lupus worldwide.