Mikalena Xenophontos

I am a DPhil student and Specialty Registrar in Rheumatology. I completed a BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Manchester before undertaking my medical degree at the University of Nottingham. I subsequently undertook my postgraduate medical training at the Northwest London and East of England deaneries. I moved to Oxford in 2023 as a clinical research fellow to work on a Wellcome Trust funded study exploring the role of fibroblasts as drivers of pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was awarded an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship in April 2025 to study the neuroglial network in Rheumatoid Arthritis under the supervision of Professor Buckley and Dr Progatzky.

My main research interest lies in understanding the drivers of pain and inflammation in immune mediated inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. In particular, I am interested in uncovering the role of the previously underappreciated neuroglial network in inflammatory arthritis.