A Wealth of Achievements

In addition to working as an OT in the department of pediatric rheumatology at the University of Kansas, Wright has also had a distinguished career as a research assistant in that department. She has made substantial contributions to research assessing central nervous system involvement in children with SLE and muscle strength in young patients with juvenile dermatomyositis. Early identification led to earlier intervention long before lab results were abnormal and damage had become irreversible, and to improved outcomes.

Q: In your career, you’ve visited more than 100 legislative offices with the ACR/AHRP and the Arthritis Foundation. What is the key to successful advocacy?

A: Ann Kunkel [in whose honor the ARHP Advocacy Award is named, see p. 36] taught me how to intervene. Healthcare legislation intervention is difficult to achieve, because so many people seek this type of help from legislators on behalf of their own causes. I learned from Ann to target specific legislators on important committees with children from their own districts, emphasizing the importance of pediatric rheumatology care as opposed to orthopedic care or adult rheumatology care. Our legislators need to know that getting diagnosed early and having aggressive treatment makes a big difference in outcome for kids with rheumatic diseases.

Q: What is the biggest change you’ve seen in this field during your career?

A: About 18 years ago, I led a children’s activity workshop at the Arthritis Foundation annual conference. At that time, about 50% of children under the age of 4 who had a rheumatic disease were in a wheelchair. Today, it’s unusual to see a toddler in a wheelchair.

Q: What are the most significant clinical challenges you face today?

A: Thirty years ago, we’d see a child come in with permanent damage that was not preventable because we didn’t have good drugs. Today, it’s really frustrating to see a child come in with permanent damage because he or she hasn’t been seen by pediatric rheumatologist.

ARHP Award

ARHP Ann Kunkel Advocacy Award

Karen L. Kerr, MSN, NP, CPNP, PNP-BC

Nurse Practitioner, Division of Immunology, Allergy, and Rheumatology, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit

Background:  Kerr has been interested in pediatrics from the outset of her nursing career. Her passion for pediatric rheumatology developed later, at about the time she became a nurse practitioner and a position in pediatric rheumatology came her way by chance. Her father had been a rheumatologist, and all the pieces fell into place when Kerr became a nurse practitioner in pediatric rheumatology at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit in 1993. She also took on teaching responsibilities in the graduate nursing program at Wayne State University College of Nursing in Detroit. Pediatric rheumatology has been a good match for Kerr.