Leaders in Research and Awareness Honored at the Lupus Foundation of America’s 2013 National Gala
On October 8th, the Lupus Foundation of America’s National Gala honored Norah O’Donnell, co-anchor of CBS This Morning; Dr. William Haseltine, founder of Human Genome Sciences, Inc; and Pfizer Inc. for their efforts to fight lupus and end the destructive impact it has on millions of families.
The gala featured video testimonials from individuals with lupus and their family members, promoting increased awareness and an expanded research effort.
Lyme Disease Researcher Dies at 79
Rheumatologist Stephen Malawista, MD, an infectious-disease researcher whose work in the 1970s led to the discovery of Lyme disease, died Sept. 18 at his home in Hamden, Conn. He was 79. His wife, Tobé Malawista, said the cause was metastatic melanoma.
Dr. Malawista led a research team at the Yale School of Medicine, helping solve a medical mystery involving a sickness that was affecting numerous people in the towns of Lyme, Old Lyme, and East Haddam. With the help of his team, Dr. Malawista made the connection that ticks transmitted the disease, and named it Lyme arthritis.
New Research Center in Chapel Hill To Address Issues in Arthritis Care
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently opened a new multidisciplinary clinical research center (MCRC), funded by a $5.6 million National Institutes of Health grant. This research center will seek solutions to the costly public health issue of osteoarthritis.
The mission of the new MCRC includes two research studies, and will further understanding of what causes arthritis, helping communities address the issue and providing innovative arthritis research.
Rheumatologists Honored at 19th Annual Physician Achievement Award Dinner
On Sept. 11, the Arthritis Foundation of New England awarded Arthur L. Boland, Jr., MD, and Matthew H. Liang, MD, MPH, the Dr. Marian Ropes Award for excellence in arthritis care and leadership in the fight against arthritis at its Physician Achievement Award Dinner. Dr. Boland is an orthopedic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University Health Service in Boston. Dr. Liang is a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System.
Arthritis Foundation Awards Grant To Stop Arthritis After Sports Injuries
A team of researchers at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will use the Arthritis Foundation’s $1 million grant to help transform treatment for osteoarthritis (OA). There are currently no medications to stop or slow the disease and no tools exist that could help identify the early stages of OA, and ACL tears are among the major risk factors for developing OA. Through examining ACL injuries, researchers aspire to detect and reverse OA before symptoms appear.
New Chief of Rheumatology at UCSD
Bruce Zuraw, MD, has been appointed the new chief of rheumatology in the allergy and immunology division in the department of medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he will provide leadership and direction to further research in the field.
Dr. Zuraw received his bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and received his doctorate from the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. His accomplishments include being director of the section of allergy and immunology and director of the allergy and immunology fellowship program at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and chair of the medical advisory board of the U.S. Hereditary Angioedema Association.
Caitlin Cromley is a writer based in Hoboken, N.J.
Event Honors Lupus Patients
On Sept. 24, the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Division of Rheumatology held an event “Honoring Lupus Heroes” as part of the hospital’s 150th anniversary celebration. The event commended lupus patients’ contributions to lupus care and research.
HSS is internationally renowned for its efforts in lupus research and its large population of lupus patients. Due in part to patients’ tireless efforts and aid, lupus has gone from being a fatal disease to frequently being a chronic illness.
“Our patients are the unsung heroes who have helped transform lupus care,” said Jane E. Salmon, MD, director of the Lupus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome Center of Excellence at HSS. “They donate blood and tissue samples for research, take investigational drugs in clinical trials, provide personal insights to improve how we care for them and for others. They are philanthropic and volunteer as peer counselors. They sacrifice time, energy, personal resources, and their own privacy to advance science and clinical care.”
One patient, Rachel Grodzinsky, was one of the first people to participate in the hospital’s study that challenged the belief that women who had lupus should not become pregnant. Now the proud mother of two sons, she says, “I felt somewhat honored to be a part of it. I felt it was really important. Pregnancy was something I had been struggling with for a few years before I actually got into the study. It felt very dear to me because it was something that I felt would help people after me.”
The event featured lupus patients and their families recalling their experiences and how they became inspired to help other patients, and specific “Lupus Heroes” were honored with a plaque. There was also a presentation of the hospital’s and lupus’s timelines, including important lupus treatment and research milestones.
