Rheumatology Research Foundation Funds 5 COVID-19 Studies for $1.65 Million

Identifying & Meeting the Need

Dr. Knight

These five projects and all the other research being done related to COVID-19 and rheumatology will hopefully improve the lives of patients well into the future. This is the vision of the Foundation and why its leadership acted quickly to fund special projects.

To identify these projects, the Foundation issued a Notice of Special Interest and evaluated projects as part of its regular grants cycle, which simplified and expedited the review process. A total of 24 applications were received in response to the special notice. Like the application and review process, the funding process was also accelerated—normally, it takes about a year for grant monies to be issued, but for the five COVID-19 projects, funds were distributed less than six months after the grant applications were submitted for review. Project reports are expected by the end of 2021, and formal publications are expected in mid- to late-2022.

“The Foundation is very proud to be the leading private funder of rheumatology research and training in the United States,” Dr. Bridges says. “By responding quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope the research we fund will have a lasting positive impact on the quality of life and outcomes of the patients we care for.”

Kimberly Retzlaff is a freelance medical journalist based in Denver.

References

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2. Landhuis E. ‘Spider-Man’ immune response may promote severe COVID-19. Scientific American. 2020 Apr 28.
3. Zhang Y, Xiao M, Zhang S, et al. Coagulopathy and antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with COVID-19. N Engl J Med. 2020 Apr 23;382:e38.
4. Zuo Y, Estes SK, Ali RA, et al. Prothrombotic autoantibodies in serum from patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Sci Transl Med. 2020 Nov 18; 12(570):eabd3876.
5. Shi H, Zuo Y, Gandhi AA. Endothelial cell-activating antibodies in COVID-19. MedrXiv. Jan. 20, 2021.