Dr Maliha Shaikh is a Consultant Rheumatologist with dual accreditation in General Medicine. She has a particular specialist interest in early inflammatory arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis and chronic pain which she maintains in her NHS practice. She also has specialist expertise in managing all aspects of general rheumatology, including osteoarthritis, connective tissue disease, vasculitis, osteoporosis, gout and reactive arthritis. Her NHS practice is based at Barts Health NHS Trust where she is the axial spondyloarthropathy lead. With her interest in chronic musculoskeletal pain and fibromyalgia, she runs a multidisciplinary fibromyalgia clinic in conjunction with pain specialists, clinical psychology and physiotherapy. She sees patient involvement as being integral to their management and has worked with charities including the National Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) and the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society during her training to ensure this. Dr Shaikh has a keen interest in global health and was competitively awarded a British Society of Rheumatology Travelling Fellowship to work at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute in Lucknow, India.

Dr Shaikh has a keen interest in medical education at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She is the educational lead for the undergraduate musculoskeletal programme at Whipps Cross University Hospital and is an educational supervisor to junior doctors. She has also mentored and supervised allied health colleagues (nurses and physiotherapists) in completing higher professional studies. She is also an advocate for mental as well as physical wellbeing which stems in part from her involvement in treating chronic conditions including chronic pain. She aims to provide a holistic approach to patient care with treatment tailored to each individual patient.