Pfizer 2021 Rheumatology Fellowship

This Rheumatology Fellowship competitive grant aims to improve patient outcomes in areas of unmet medical need with a focus on programs that address health care disparities and social determinants of health. While therapeutic options in rheumatology, including lupus, have significantly grown as our understanding of the pathophysiology has advanced, we still see significant groups of patients that suffer from debility and poor outcomes. We have not been able to successfully develop reliable and consistent markers that identify patients who are at highest risk of damage accrual over the course of their disease. The training/research supported by this grant would support a fellow to focus their efforts on research evaluating factors that drive poor outcomes in our lupus patients, enhance our ability to recognize the subset of patients who will have more damage as a result of their disease, and explore factors that influence participation and representation of under-represented populations in clinical research. Only by committing to do this important work will we be able to identify and address barriers to research participation, barriers to care, predict patients who are likely to have a poor disease course, and eventually realize avenues that will optimize health related quality of life for all of our patients with lupus.