09 June 2026
Modern rheumatology did not appear overnight. It was built. Carefully, collaboratively, and by people willing to challenge convention.
Few individuals shaped that journey more profoundly than Eric Bywaters.
Born in 1910, Bywaters’ career spanned the emergence of rheumatology from a small area within general medicine into a recognised medical specialty in its own right. It is difficult to imagine modern rheumatology without his influence.
His contributions stretched from laboratory research to frontline patient care. During the Second World War, while working at Hammersmith Hospital during the London Blitz, Bywaters made pioneering observations around crush injuries and acute kidney failure, helping establish understanding of what became known as crush syndrome. That work saved lives and demonstrated a principle that would define much of his career: translating observation into better patient care.
But rheumatology became his lasting legacy.
After the war, Bywaters helped establish rheumatology as a distinct discipline within UK medicine. At the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital in Taplow, he built specialist services, advanced research programmes and created an environment where multidisciplinary care could thrive.
Importantly, he understood that building a specialty meant building people.
Bywaters trained generations of clinicians, with estimates suggesting hundreds of trainees passed through his departments over several decades. Many would go on to establish and strengthen specialist services across the UK and internationally.
Among those he mentored was Barbara Ansell, who would later become one of the defining figures in paediatric rheumatology. Together, they helped transform understanding of juvenile arthritis and laid foundations that continue to influence care today.
What stands out when looking back is that Bywaters was not only creating knowledge. He was creating community.
Research collaboration. Shared learning. Cross-specialty working. Supporting future leaders. These ideas feel entirely familiar to rheumatology professionals today because people like Bywaters embedded them into the culture of the specialty decades ago.
That same spirit remains central to the work of BSR today.
Whether through bringing thousands of professionals together at Annual Conference, supporting education and training, advancing guidelines, championing research, or creating opportunities for clinicians across disciplines to learn from one another, modern rheumatology continues to rely on connection.
The challenges facing healthcare today are different to those Bywaters encountered. Workforce pressures, evolving treatments, growing patient need and technological change shape the current landscape.
But the principle remains unchanged, Strong specialties are not built by individuals working alone. They are built by communities willing to learn together, teach one another, and keep pushing forward.
Eric Bywaters helped create that culture, More than two decades after his death, rheumatology continues to benefit from it.