A self-help organisation with more than 2300 members, the BSSA is dedicated to providing mutual support and information to individuals affected by this disabling disease. We have regional support groups throughout the UK whose members include sufferers and supporters who work together in helping one another cope with the day-to-day challenges of this debilitating and distressing condition. The BSSA also has a helpline, we distribute a variety of literature including an informative quarterly newsletter and we award an annual research grant. There is currently no cure for Sjögren's Syndrome and the cause is still unknown.
BSSA aims and objectives are:
Benefits for joining the BSSA:
Providing information and support to those affected by the conditionUK membership: £25.
Overseas membership: £30.
Join online now or download our application form
Even if you are not a member of the BSSA, you are welcome to make an initial call to our members’ helpline. If you would like to continue to use it further, we do ask that you become a member, as without this vital financial contribution, this helpline would not be able to operate.
Office Hours: 9am - 2pm, Mon to Thurs (answer phone facility out of hours).
If you need to chat to a friendly, listening ear about Sjögren’s Syndrome affecting your life, please call our members’ helpline. The helpline is available between 9.30am – 4.00pm, Monday to Wednesday and 9.30am - 8pm Thursday and Friday. Remember, if your call is not answered immediately, please be patient as a voicemail facility is available. Please leave your name and telephone number and your call will be returned.
Please note, the helpline is for advice only, for all other enquiries please call the BSSA office on 0121 478 0222.
Mrs Linda J Stone OBE - Chairman
Ms. Stone is the chairman of the British Sjögren's Syndrome Association. Diagnosed with Sjögren’s Syndrome in 1990, when her children were still at primary school, Linda became chairman in 2002. She leads the Trustees to develop the BSSA and the services it provides. Linda is also the patient representative on the main steering committee and/or the Patient Advisory Board for a number of trials. A former President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, with a background in community pharmacy, she has worked extensively in professional regulation, standards, and governance. She is also the secretary of Sjögren Europe.
Professor Wan-Fai Ng - Rheumatology
Newcastle University Hospital
Professor Ng is a Professor of Rheumatology at Newcastle University and the chief investigator of the United Kingdom Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome Registry (UKPSSR, www.sjogrensregistry.org). He qualified from Cambridge University and completed his postgraduate clinical training and PhD study in London. Prof. Ng’s research programme focuses on understanding the relationships between biological changes in primary Sjögren’s syndrome and clinical manifestations in particularly fatigue and lymphoma development. He is a co-director of the Newcastle Biomedicine Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre and deputy director of the Clinical Research Facilities at Royal Victoria Infirmary.
Mrs Louise Mountford - Patient Representative
Mrs Pat Wolstenholme - Patient Representative
Mr Paul Taylor
Mr Ankur Barua - Ophthalmology
Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, Birmingham Children's Hospital and
Midland Eye Institute
Mrs Catherine Porter - Patient Representative
Professor Simon Bowman - Medical Council Vice President - Rheumatology - Birmingham
Dr Wan-Fai Ng - Rheumatology - Newcastle University Hospital
Miss Saaeha Rauz - Ophthalmology
Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, University of Birmingham
Miss Genevieve Larkin - Ophthamology
Kings College, London
Dr Nurhan Sutcliffe - Rheumatology
St Barts, The London NHS Trust
Dr Monica Gupta - Rheumatology
Gartneval Hospital, Glasgow
Dr Francesca Barone M.D., Ph.D.
Wellcome Trust Clinician Scientist, Centre for Translational Inflammational Research, School of Immunity and Infection, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham Research Laboratories, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
Dr Michele Bombardieri, MD, PhD
HEFCE Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Rheumatologist, Centre for Experimental Medicine and Rheumatologist, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London and Barts' Health NHS Trust
Dr Ed Vital
Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant, NIHR Clinician Scientist, Leeds Institute for Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Leeds
Sara - Charity Manager 
Fay - Office Administrator
Bridget - Team Leader Members’ Helpline
Ann Marie - Members’ Helpline
Helen - Members’ Helpline
Eleanor Bron
Eleanor Bron is a writer and actress. She was extremely fortunate as a child, in that she was able to attend a grammar school and to go on to enjoy a university education at a time when this was all paid for by the state. She read Modern Languages at Newnham College and it was at Cambridge that she met and worked with Peter Cook, John Bird and John Fortune.
She started her career working with them during the ‘satire boom’ of the 1960’s. After two years with Peter Cook’s Establishment cabaret in London and New York, she returned to England and continued to work both in comedy and drama, on radio and television, theatre and film. Her roles in the theatre include Hedda Gabler, Jean Brodie, Cleopatra, Jocasta, Yelena in Uncle Vanya, and Amanda in Private Lives. On television, as well as writing (with John Fortune) and performing in their comedy series, she has appeared in Rumpole of the Bailey, Absolutely Fabulous, Casualty 1909, Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War and in many dramas.
Among films in which she has appeared, are Help; Bedazzled; Women In Love, The Heart of Me,Wimbledon and the House of Mirth. She greatly enjoys recording audio-books, including her own novel. Other writing includes several books of memoir and some poems and song cycles.
She has two older brothers, Gerry, a record producer, and Anthony, a professor of Ophthalmology.
