Professional Profile
Dr Darlington treats a full range of General Medical and Rheumatological diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and other forms of inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and spinal pain. She has a special interest in osteoporosis, gout and nutritional immunology and during the pandemic she has done more than twelve hundred telephone consultations and has acquired considerable experience in dealing with rheumatological and general medical symptoms provoked by coronavirus infection and from vaccines. She also helps patients with bereavement counselling and support for weight reduction and nicotine withdrawal.
Training and Appointment
Dr Darlington graduated from Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, London, was awarded the Hospital Trustees’ Research Fellowship, the Michael Mason Medal for her work on ultrasound in Rheumatology and a Private Patients’ Plan Research Fellowship at Jesus College, Cambridge. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Clinical Lead in a research programme with the University of Oxford which is exploring the interface between kynurenine metabolism, the immune system and cancer.
Research and Publications
Dr Darlington has undertaken research on rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, gout, stroke, lipid and purine metabolism, Huntington’s Disease, depression, chronic brain injury, neuroprotection, malaria, flavonoids in medicine, trypanosomiasis and aspects of nutritional immunology. She is involved in scientific research and in addition to her Research Fellowship at Cambridge, Dr Darlington was appointed Visiting Research Consultant at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (2001-2004) and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Neuroscience and Biomedical Systems at the University of Glasgow (2001-2006).
She has published more than 70 peer reviewed papers and reviews, written four chapters in published books and co-edited three books. She serves on an International Medical Advisory Committee on Infection which has been involved in the development of antiviral protection during the pandemic.
Current Practice
Dr Darlington is a busy NHS Consultant for the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust and has private clinics at Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford and also elsewhere in Surrey and Hampshire. She works closely with Primary Care colleagues, seeing patients on long or short term bases or for single visits, as requested by GPs. Dr Darlington believes strongly in the benefits of a close , flexible, “easy access” working relationship with GP and Consultant Colleagues which works well for efficient patient care. She has a strong interest in working preventatively as well as therapeutically.
