Research group gets $2.5 million

The Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) is the recipient of the Arthritis Society's first National Research Initiative grant, the Society announced in a press release last week. The grant, worth C$2.5 million, will go towards work on improving the diagnosis and management of ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis. From the release:

"SPARCC is a dynamic team of health investigators from across Canada who have already been involved in breakthrough research pioneering the use of MRI for arthritis, in genetic discovery, and in the use of ground-breaking biological therapies for patients with inflammatory arthritis," said Dr. Walter Maksymowych. "We plan to adopt a new interactive model of research in which patients become active participants in the design and execution of the research plan. Our aim is to set a new benchmark for research into chronic diseases in Canada."

Maksymowych is at the University of Alberta, where, luckily for me, I was a graduate student at the time I was diagnosed with AS -- the fact that active AS research was going on at my own university was no doubt a good thing as far as my care and treatment was concerned.