Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes: Much more common than you think!

Audrey Kershaw is an Oral Surgeon who qualified in 1987. She worked as an Associate Specialist in Dundee Dental Hospital and School between 1998 and 2017, where she lectured on medicine and surgery in dentistry and helped train more than 1,000 dentists. A transition to private practice in recent years led to the foundation of Oral Surgery Scotland, Dr Kershaw’s own peripatetic service. Through this, she takes her own brand of thorough and efficient patient care to practices across the length and breadth of Scotland.

Alongside, she has been working with the charity Ehlers-Danlos Support UK. Her recent work with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) patients has enabled her to highlight the relevance of connective tissue issues to her dental colleagues. “If you can’t connect the issues, think connective tissues,” is a common phrase amongst those in the EDS community.

Alan is an Acute Physician and Rheumatologist with a specialist interest in heritable disorders of connective tissue.

He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Medicine from Cambridge University and Addenbrookes Hospital; trained in Medicine at Addenbrookes in Cambridge and then University College London Hospitals, and received his consultant certification and Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in 2000 and 2005 respectively.

He was an Arthritis Research Clinical Fellow at St Thomas’ Hospital, London before becoming a consultant at Whipps Cross Hospital and Barts Health NHS Trust, and in 2011 gained a certificate in Translational Medicine from the University of Edinburgh.

With considerable experience at Director level in hospital management and clinical leadership, Alan was a Secondary Care Non-Executive at Board level in NHS Clinical Commissioning for five years until 2018. He currently practices privately and continue in research and education having written many articles, chapters, and research papers, and authored five medical books.

Alan supports the Ehlers-Danlos Society as the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Research. He continues as a Member of the Society’s Medical and Scientific Board and as a Member of the Steering Committee of The International Consortium on the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders.

Board-certified anesthesiologist, integrative pain medicine physician and former ballet dancer, Linda Bluestein, M.D., has dedicated her life to treating those afflicted with hypermobility disorders. She has also developed an innovative program, EduCoaching, to provide comprehensive information and guidance to those residing outside her geographic practice regions.  

She founded and co-hosts the podcast, “Bendy Bodies with the Hypermobility MD”, and is a former co-host of the podcast “Hypermobility Happy Hour”.  Dr. Bluestein is widely published, considered an expert on hypermobility disorders, and has lectured internationally. Dr. Bluestein contributed two chapters for the book, Disjointed – Navigating the Diagnosis and Management of Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders.

Dr. Bluestein is a member of the Allergy and Immunology Working Group for the International Consortium on EDS and HSD, the Board of Directors for the Bridge Dance Project, the Advisory Board for Doctors for Dancers, the Resources Committee for the Dance Healthy Alliance of Canada and serves as the Pain Management Committee Chair for the non-profit, EDS Research Foundation.  She is also a founding member of DanseMedica.

As a leading specialist in connective tissue disorders, Dr. Bluestein helped create the first online EDS CME (Continuing Medical Education) program with the non-profit organization, Chronic Pain Partners, for whom she also serves as a volunteer medical consultant.  As an assistant professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Central Wisconsin, Dr. Bluestein directed the RISHI Healer’s Art Program.