The Arthritis Foundation announced that it has partnered with the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) to fund research initiatives across North America aimed at better understanding juvenile arthritis and other rheumatic diseases in pediatric patients. The organizations plan to award 10 grants totaling about $1.2 million to enable early-career investigators to develop strategies to improve pediatric rheumatology care and uncover patterns to safely taper off arthritis medications in select patients in this population.
Among the recipients of the grants was Sarah Bayefsky, MD, a fellow in the Division of Rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who plans to use the funding to address various barriers rheumatologists face while caring for pediatric patients. Dr. Bayefky hopes to generate a comprehensive understanding of these challenges by speaking to rheumatologists and the families of pediatric patients. Another recipient, Mia Chandler, MD, MPH, a clinical rheumatology fellow in the Department of Pediatric Rheumatology at Boston Children’s Hospital, will use the grant to investigate the impact of disease-related and non–disease-related factors on school participation in pediatric patients. Dr. Chandler will look to establish a precedent for future interventions designed to mitigate the adverse effects of juvenile idiopathic arthritis on educational outcomes while maximizing educational participation. “One of the greatest impacts of the CARRA–Arthritis Foundation grants program is supporting early-career pediatric rheumatologists. These awards provide a critical boost to help launch the careers of physician-scientists focused on pediatric rheumatic conditions,” concluded Kristen Mueller, PhD, Vice President of Autoimmune Arthritis Research at the Arthritis Foundation.