All posts by Arthritis Foundation

Get in the Spirit with the Jingle Bell Run!

The Jingle Bell Run is one of the most spirited fun runs in the nation! This fun, festive, holiday-themed 5K is the perfect excuse to get in the spirit during the holiday season – and, even better, 100% of your registration fees and fundraising help support a great cause!

If you’re still on the fence about whether or not to register this season, give these five reasons a try – and then listen to what our community has to say!

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Conference of Champions Evening of Honors

Rising to the Occasion at Our Conference of Champions

Hundreds of Arthritis Foundation volunteers, donors and partners converged on Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 16-17, to celebrate the year’s successes and roll up their sleeves to begin shaping plans that will accomplish even more in 2018. Participants at the 2017 Conference of Champions left the Valley of the Sun with a renewed passion for fighting arthritis harder than ever in communities nationwide.

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conference of champions 2017 evening of honors

Our Evening of Honors Salutes the Best of the Best

It’s been said that what makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well. This week, Arthritis Foundation supporters from around the country descended on Phoenix, Arizona for the 2017 Conference of Champions. And there, they discovered the fountain of generosity through stories of the “best of the best.” The stories told by our most committed volunteers and partners, demonstrating their passion for our purpose.

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Summary & Results from Osteoarthritis Patient-Focused Drug Development Meeting

Our patients have spoken: “We want earlier diagnoses to stop disease progression and better biomarkers for earlier diagnosis”

On March 8th, 2017, the Arthritis Foundation, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), osteoarthritis (OA) patients, drug developers, health care providers and academic researchers came together to discuss the serious burden of OA disease, particularly the most significant OA-related symptoms, the impact of those symptoms, currently available treatments and ideal treatments.

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ACR Coverage: OA Management, Telehealth, Medical Marijuana and More

Our team of Patient Representatives and staff hit the ground running Monday to take in a range of sessions at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the ACR/AHRP (Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals).

Donna Dernier sat in on a session titled “Moving Toward Better Osteoarthritis Management.” In it, Kelli Allen, a research professor of medicine from the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said there is plenty of good evidence that certain behavioral therapies can work to better manage osteoarthritis (OA), but the message is getting lost in translation to the patient. Dernier reports, “The good news is there are agreed-upon strategies that work well to reduce pain and increase mobility. These include weight loss, better sleep patterns, judicious use of pain meds, increased exercise. Unfortunately, compliance isn’t always as high as doctors would like. Causes for this could be: non-shared decision making, a patient’s lack of confidence in the recommendation, or perhaps difficulty in actually getting to [physical therapy] sessions.”

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acr patient voices 2017

Patients Weigh In on ACR Sessions

The 2017 American College of Rheumatology’s (ACR) Annual Meeting (#ACR17) was in full swing Sunday in San Diego with health care professionals from all over the world in attendance, and the Arthritis Foundation had a cadre of Patient Representatives there to participate and report on what they saw and heard.

One session that received a lot of attention and praise from the Patient Reps was the Association of Rheumatology Health Professional (AHRP) keynote address titled “Exercise is Medicine: We All Need to Say the Same Thing.”

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acr patient rep program 2017

Learn About the ACR Arthritis Foundation Patient Representative Program

There is growing evidence to support the value of patient engagement in research and healthcare activities. Case studies from drug and device development, academic research, and other healthcare sectors cite the impact of engaging expert patient partners in the design, conduct, and dissemination of research, discovery, and delivery initiatives.  Encouraged and facilitated by entities like the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), academic and clinical professional societies are beginning to adopt more patient-engaged strategies as well, like the inclusion of patient representatives at annual meetings and scientific conferences.  In 2017, the Arthritis Foundation is partnering with the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) to pilot an Arthritis Foundation Patient Representative program (#AFPatientReps), bringing a cadre of ten highly involved, engaged patients to attend and participate in #ACR17, the ACR/ARHP annual meeting.

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bing chang spotlight

Highlighting a Thought Leader: Bing Chang

The Arthritis Foundation champions the fight against arthritis and we are excited to have thought leaders, such as Rowland W. (Bing) Chang, MD, MPH, as a partner in this fight.

Dr. Chang is a rheumatologist, epidemiologist and health services researcher. He was named chair of the Arthritis Foundation’s board of directors in November 2016.

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acr banner 2017

Your Patient, Our Focus: Arthritis Foundation at ACR

The Arthritis Foundation is excited to participate in #ACR17, the Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology. This year, the 2017 ACR Annual Meeting is taking place Nov. 3-8 in San Diego, California! Close to 17,000 rheumatologists, rheumatology health professionals, fellows-in-training, and exhibitors from more than 100 countries are expected to attend to discuss the latest scientific advances, clinical issues, professional development, and more. We are proud to be amongst the thought leaders in the field of rheumatology.

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jordan orange

Researchers on the Path to a Cure – Spotlight on Dr. Jordan Orange

Chances are you haven’t heard of COPA syndrome. That’s because it wasn’t identified as a form of arthritis until 2015. So, what is COPA syndrome? It is a rare, inherited autoimmune disease that is caused by mutation of the COPA gene. It usually appears in early childhood. Patients show symptoms of severe lung disease and arthritis.

Dr. Jordan Orange was one member of a large research team that first identified COPA syndrome in 2015. The team’s published work in Nature Genetics won the Arthritis Foundation’s 2015 Howley Award prize for significantly advancing the understanding of an arthritis-related disease.

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