The 2023 ARP Merit Awards

Dr. Alexanderson chairs the International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group (IMACS) Rehabilitation and Exercise Scientific Interest Group and leads the current project to develop evidence-based consensus exercise guidelines in IIM. She is co-chair of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Myositis Working Group aiming to develop and validate patient-relevant, patient-reported outcome measures for patients with IIM. In both these international research collaborations, Dr. Alexanderson is working closely with patient research partners as equal members of the research group, as well as with other health professionals, such as physicians, occupational therapists, nurses, physiologists and social workers.

Dr. Alexanderson was an elected member of The Myositis Association Medical Advisory Board from 2014–19, and was reelected for a new term in 2022. She also serves as vice chair of the Global Fellowship on Rehabilitation and Exercise in Systemic Sclerosis and is an affiliated board member of the Swedish Myositis Association.

In 2005, Dr. Alexanderson received the Swedish Rheumatism Association 60th Anniversary Stipend in Care Science award for best clinical doctoral thesis, and in 2021, she was awarded the Pfizer and Swedish Rheumatism Association’s Nanna Svartz stipend for eminent research in the field of rheumatology.

“I am very grateful and humble to receive the Distinguished Scholar Award this year,” says Dr. Alexanderson. “The ACR/ARP provides fantastic possibilities for advancement in clinical and translational research and networking in the field of rheumatology. My research is based on multi-professional research and clinical practice with focus on the group of rare idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, myositis and the role of exercise as a treatment for these diseases. I sincerely want to thank the ARP for acknowledging mine and my collaborators’ efforts in this field.”

Distinguished Clinician Award

The ARP Distinguished Clinician Award is presented to an ARP member who is engaged in clinical practice and demonstrates outstanding clinical expertise in arthritis and the rheumatic diseases. Martha Rosenberg Curry, MS, APRN, CPNP-PC, an instructor in the Department of Pediatrics, Rheumatology Section, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, is this year’s recipient.

“What an honor and a privilege to be recognized among my peers, mentors and colleagues in our profession,” says Ms. Curry. “It is incredibly meaningful to me, in the context of our collective efforts in the service of our patients, to be the recipient of this very special award.”

Ms. Curry graduated from Louisiana State University College of Nursing, New Orleans, with a BNS in 1980, followed by Master of Science in 1989 and completed the pediatric nurse practitioner program in 1997, both at Texas Woman’s University, Houston. She remains thankful for a student internship in the U.S. Public Health Service COSTEP (Commissioned Officer Student Training and Extern Program) program, stationed in Rapid City, S.D., and Pine Creek Potawatomi Reservation, as well as for her first nursing position in New Orleans Charity Hospital’s emergency department. These rural and urban experiences opened her eyes and heart to what it means to serve the underserved.