The REF Industry Roundtable, created in 2000, was a key step to the current success of the REF. With the help of the Industry Roundtable, the REF’s core grant and awards portfolio grew from $500,000 in 2000 to $5 million in 2009.
Giant Leap: Within Our Reach
When the Within Our Reach campaign was launched in 2006 with an initial fundraising goal of $30 million, the REF leapt forward in terms of its ability to raise funds to support rheumatology. “With funding from National Institutes of Health being slashed for rheumatic diseases …, the ACR saw the need to become more effective at fundraising,” says James O’Dell, MD, Larson professor of internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and REF president when Within Our Reach started.
The ACR’s research committee was charged with identifying the best models for fundraising and concluded that disease-targeted initiatives are the most effective. “RA is core to the practice of rheumatology, was poorly funded at the time, and was ripe for discovery,” says Dr. O’Dell. It was chosen as the focus of Within Our Reach. An international group of RA experts met in Boston to set the research agenda for the Within Our Reach. They concluded that a combination of translation and clinical research followed by clinical and collaborative trials is necessary to advance the care of patients with RA.
To date, Within Our Reach has raised nearly $28 million for RA research. Its fourth round of awards—totaling $6 million in translation and clinical research grants—was just completed. “One of the greatest campaign successes is reinvigorating rheumatoid arthritis research in the United States,” says Dr. O’Dell. “With these opportunities, we have been able to recruit some talented investigators.”
Another benefit has been synergy in RA research. Within Our Reach–funded investigators meet annually to discuss their research, and extensive collaborations have been formed as a result, notes Dr. O’Dell. (See “An Eye on RA Innovations,” p. 1.) With 100 presentations at the 2009 ACR Annual Scientific Meeting and 65 publications to date based on research funded by the campaign, “the productivity has been outstanding, “ says William St.Clair, MD, current REF president and professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. “It will only continue to nurture the research environment in RA and spill over into other areas.”
Look to the Future
Building on these accomplishments, the REF is constantly looking for ways to improve its funding efforts and open pathways for collaboration. One recent effort to ensure the future of rheumatology was the Blue Ribbon Panel. Led by REF Vice President David I. Daikh, MD, the panel reviewed and reorganized the REF funding portfolio in 2008–2009. The result is a streamlined portfolio of core awards that focuses on the career development path. The programs target medical students, fellows, young faculty members, and rheumatology training programs. Larger grant offerings for fellows and young faculty are now available, including the Rheumatology Scientist Development and Rheumatology Investigator awards.
