Introduction 

Prof Dr Piet van Riel, executive advisor 

Professor Dr Piet van Riel is Rheumatologist at the Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.  After graduating in Medicine from the Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1978, Prof Dr van Riel trained in Internal Medicine. In 1983 he completed his PhD thesis and went on to receive rheumatology training at the Academic Hospital Nijmegen. He was heading the Department of Rheumatology at the Radboud University Medical Center between 2003 and 2013. Some of his current activities are President of the DREAM-RA registry and practicing rheumatologist at Bernhoven, Uden, The Netherlands. 

Prof Dr van Riel is an active member of many professional societies, including the Dutch Society of Rheumatology, of which he was Chairman from 2003 upto 2009, the American College of Rheumatology and the British Society of Rheumatology. From 1999 to 2003 he was Chairman of the EULAR Standing Committee for International Clinical Studies Including Therapeutic Trials.

Prof Dr van Riel’s research interests include clinical research in rheumatology, clinical pharmacology and clinimetrics.  He is on the editorial board of a number of journals, and has authored or co-authored several books and over 700 international publications with currently a h-index of 95.