Paul Emery is Arthritis Research Campaign Professor of Rheumatology and Head of the Academic Unit of Musculoskeletal Medicine at the University of Leeds, as well as Clinical Director (Rheumatology) at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust in the United Kingdom. He graduated in medicine from the University of Cambridge and completed specialist accreditation in internal medicine and rheumatology. He completed his thesis on the immunopathology of rheumatoid arthritis at Guy's Hospital, and then served as Head of Rheumatology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne. He was senior lecturer in rheumatology at the University of Birmingham, UK from 1987-1995 until his present appointment.

Professor Emery has served as a member of several education committees including the Senior Advisory Committees of the Royal College of Physicians, the MRCP Part 1 Board. He is currently the President of EULAR, a past member of the Scientific Committee and Chairs the MRI imaging group. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including Rheumatology, Arthritis and Rheumatism, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, Clinical Rheumatology and Modern Rheumatology (Japanese Rheumatology Association Journal).

He is a recipient of the Roche Biennial Award of Clinical Rheumatology, the Rheumatology Hospital Doctor of the Year award 1999 and the EULAR prize 2002 for outstanding contribution to Rheumatology research. Professor Emery's research interests centre around the immunopathogenesis and immunotherapy of rheumatoid arthritis and connective tissue diseases. He has a special interest in the factors leading to persistent inflammation. He has published over 650 peer-reviewed articles in this area.