For 30 years, the Rheumatology Research Foundation has been working to advance research and training to improve the health of people with rheumatic diseases. The past three decades are replete with the achievement of significant milestones and extraordinary accomplishments.
Funding Research, Training
The Foundation’s efforts began in 1985 when it was established by the ACR. In 1999, nearly 15 years after its founding, the Foundation offered about $510,000 for research and training awards. As the Foundation gained recognition, its support for research and training multiplied by manyfold. By 2005, the Foundation offered more than $4 million in awards, and four years later, Foundation funding rose for the first time to more than $10 million. This year, the Foundation is providing more than $13 million in research and training awards.
Partners in Rheumatology: Leadership Summit attendees.
In all, the Foundation has committed more than $130 million to the field of rheumatology through more than 2,600 individual awards. Its support has had a significant impact on the careers of rheumatology professionals and the lives of patients. Over the past five years, Foundation award recipients have published more than 1,060 papers, given nearly 1,200 presentations worldwide and earned more than $73.5 million in additional funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This research and its dissemination are helping us better understand and treat rheumatic diseases.
The Foundation’s support for rheumatology training is also helping ensure people with rheumatic diseases have access to appropriately trained doctors and healthcare professionals. Over the past 15 years, as the amount of Foundation support for education and training awards has grown, so too has the number of graduating rheumatology fellows.
Building Support
The Foundation’s ability to expand its funding for rheumatology research and training over the years was only possible because of growing support from the rheumatology community, pharmaceutical industry and patients and their families. Through the Foundation, they have banded together to make a difference in rheumatology research and training. In 2006, the Foundation launched its first-ever capital campaign, Within Our Reach: Finding a Cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis, with the ambitious goal of raising $30 million in five years. The campaign wrapped up 2011, having surpassed its goal thanks to the unprecedented generosity of rheumatology professionals and industry supporters, as well as patients and their families.
Both Ted Mikuls, MD (left), and Kaleb Michaud, PhD (right), have received a variety of research awards from the Foundation during their careers.
At the culmination of this first successful fundraising effort, the Foundation continued this forward push with the launch of its second campaign, Journey to Cure: The Campaign to Advance Patient Care and Accelerate Discoveries, with a goal of raising $60 million. Now in the final stages, Journey to Cure is less than $5 million from reaching its goal.
Moving Forward
However, the Foundation’s work is still far from complete. According to the Foundation’s latest report on funding for rheumatology research, Analysis of Funding for Rheumatology Research and Training for the Period 2010–2014, NIH funding awarded to rheumatology researchers fell from more than $1.1 billion in 2010 to less than $700 million in 2014, amounting to a 40% drop in federal funding. Private organizations, such as the Foundation, have been able to help fill the gap during this period by infusing more than $93 million into arthritis and rheumatic disease research. However, that amount, although impressive, accounts for less than 30% of the lost funding.
The Foundation has grown in its reputation as a leader in the support of rheumatology. In addition to its recent analysis of research funding, the Foundation convened a meeting of stakeholders in rheumatology research to discuss the challenges in front of them and to identify potential solutions and opportunities for collaboration. This meeting, the first-ever Partners in Rheumatology: Leadership Summit, was hosted by the Foundation in conjunction with its annual Investigators’ Meeting in June. We believe this summit was a resounding success and has already resulted in the implementation of some of the attendees’ recommendations. Planning for a second summit next year is underway.
In the meantime, the Foundation will continue expanding its efforts to fund research with the ultimate goal of finding a cure for rheumatic diseases. Your support of the Foundation will become even more crucial in the future as the organization grows to address the funding needs of rheumatology and works to ensure that people with rheumatic disease have access to the best possible care.
Visit Rheum Research to learn more about research and training supported by the Rheumatology Research Foundation.
E. William St.Clair, MD, is president of the ACR and chief of the Duke Division of Rheumatology and Immunology. Contact him at [email protected].
David R. Karp, MD, PhD, is president of the Rheumatology Research Foundation and chief of the Rheumatic Diseases Division at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
