A Keele University professor has received an MBE in the 2025 New Year Honours list for services to medical research.

Professor Elaine Hay has devoted her career to understanding the causes and consequences of back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders, and to improving primary care for patients through her research focused on evaluating new treatments.

Her work has contributed to national policies and international guidelines and has led to service redesign in the NHS that has reduced wait times and improved care for patients. In the last 30 years, Elaine has secured almost £40 million in external grants to support new research into diseases and conditions like osteoarthritis and tennis elbow, leading to Keele University and its clinical partners in North Staffordshire becoming internationally renowned in the field of primary care musculoskeletal research.

On being awarded the MBE, Elaine, a Professor of Community Rheumatology at Keele University, said: "I've never been someone who has courted publicity, so it was quite a shock when a letter came through the post from the Cabinet Office. It's wonderful recognition and the thing that has touched me the most is that it’s my colleagues who have put me forward for it.

"I know a lot of people say this, but the award really is a reflection on everybody I have worked with over the years to put primary care and musculoskeletal research on the map. Throughout my career I've always focused on making a difference to patients and colleagues, and seeing other people that I work with succeed gives me a real buzz.

"I've always felt that research was the way I could make the biggest difference to the biggest number of people, and that research has planted the seeds which have helped provide the evidence to transform clinical services for patients."

Elaine came to North Staffordshire in 1994 as a Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Community Rheumatology at the Haywood Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Keele University. In 2004 she was promoted to Professor of Community Rheumatology at Keele and was one of the three founding members of the University's Research Institute for Primary Care and Health Sciences (PCHS), where Elaine led the clinical trials programme that was influential in transforming research at the University.

She was appointed Director of the Versus Arthritis for Primary Care Centre, based at Keele, in 2010, and in recognition of her contribution to primary care research was awarded Distinguished Membership of the British Society for Rheumatology in 2016, and Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2017.

Elaine is also a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator (Emeritus) and was Programme Director of the NIHR's Programme Grants for Applied Research between 2018 and 2023. She has led on ground-breaking research for Versus Arthritis, the UK's largest charity supporting people with arthritis.

Elaine, an author of around 400 peer-reviewed papers in publications including The Lancet and BMJ, said: "I think what I am most proud of, is to be recognised for the part I have played in establishing Keele and North Staffordshire clinical services as world leaders in the field of primary care musculoskeletal research.

"Looking back, we really started off from nothing when I came to Keele in 1994, but we had almost a sort of naive cheekiness where we took risks and punched above our weight. We took a long-term approach and grew our own strong team of clinical and non-clinical researchers, many of whom are now world leaders in their own right. We always made sure our research was driven by clinical priorities and was of the highest methodological quality.

"We put patients at the forefront of our work before it became fashionable to do that, and we moved things like back pain management out of secondary care and into primary care. We were also very good at spotting new funding opportunities and getting in there early, and once you have got the ball rolling it's a lot easier to keep it moving.

"I was drawn to rheumatology because it provides the opportunity to build relationships with patients where you have that continuity of care, and to get to know them and their families. You can make a big difference by doing things that aren’t terribly complicated

"My tagline throughout my career has been to foster collaboration and joined up working, in what essentially is a competitive environment, where you are up against other people for grants and funding. It’s important to keep a focus on why you are doing the research in the first place - for the benefit of patients - and it should always be judged on the difference it makes."

Professor Mark Ormerod, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of Keele University, has also been  recognised in this year's New Year Honours list, receiving an OBE for services to education and to sustainability.