Claire Smith

Claire Smith is Journal Editor at the Hypermobility Syndromes Association (HMSA), a charity supporting those with heritable disorders of connective tissue and hypermobility spectrum disorders of all aetiologies. She is also an author and copy writer, running her own business creating literature that provides answers to the questions most frequently asked by patients, and providing information on evidence based treatment and self-management. Claire’s work includes the book Understanding hEDS and HSD and HMSA booklets The educator’s guide to the hypermobile child and Living well with an HDCT.

On a daily basis, Claire works with individuals who have multi-systemic disorders, many of whom have struggled for years with lack of service provider knowledge or a clear treatment pathway. She focuses on promoting holistic, rather than single-body-system, care. Claire works hard to provide reassurance and validation, advice and explanation to all of those who have suffered from prior inappropriate interventions and poor past experiences.

Claire, who is herself affected by symptomatic hypermobility, is also a patient reviewer for the National Institute for Health Research, working to shape research and improve practice within the NHS and public health. In her projects, Claire works collaboratively with charities such as Ehlers-Danlos Support UK, EDS Wellness, and PoTS UK, establishing links and finding ways to share knowledge, skills and information. In the past, Claire has worked closely with members of the HMSA medical advisory board and trustees, and formed part of the HMSA team who, alongside Dr. Philip Bull, set up a “care web” model for patients with hypermobility related disorders, linking together a network of allied healthcare professionals keen to better support patients.

In her spare time (which she doesn’t get a great deal of), Claire enjoys spending time with her family, laughing with friends, and taking her much loved Border Collie for long walks by the sea.