Video: Knock on Wood| Webinar: ACR/CHEST ILD Guidelines in Practice
fa-facebookfa-linkedinfa-youtube-playfa-rss

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

  • Conditions
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis
    • Gout and Crystalline Arthritis
    • Myositis
    • Osteoarthritis and Bone Disorders
    • Pain Syndromes
    • Pediatric Conditions
    • Psoriatic Arthritis
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Sjögren’s Disease
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
    • Systemic Sclerosis
    • Vasculitis
    • Other Rheumatic Conditions
  • FocusRheum
    • ANCA-Associated Vasculitis
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis
    • Gout
    • Lupus Nephritis
    • Psoriatic Arthritis
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
  • Guidance
    • Clinical Criteria/Guidelines
    • Ethics
    • Legal Updates
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence
      • Other ACR meetings
      • EULAR/Other
    • Research Rheum
  • Drug Updates
    • Analgesics
    • Biologics/DMARDs
  • Practice Support
    • Billing/Coding
    • EMRs
    • Facility
    • Insurance
    • QA/QI
    • Technology
    • Workforce
  • Opinion
    • Patient Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Rheuminations
      • Video
    • Speak Out Rheum
  • Career
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Awards
    • Career Development
  • ACR
    • ACR Home
    • ACR Convergence
    • ACR Guidelines
    • Journals
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
    • From the College
    • Events/CME
    • President’s Perspective
  • Search

Donah Zack Crawford in the Spotlight: Why the ARHP Is for Me

Kelly Tyrrell  |  Issue: November 2018  |  November 18, 2018

Voin_Sveta / shutterstock.comVoin_Sveta / shutterstock.com

Voin_Sveta / shutterstock.com

Donah Zack Crawford, MA, was a research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania, focused on pre­menstrual syndrome and peri­menopause, when her symptoms first started. “Someone suggested I see a rheumatologist,” she says, and not long after, Philadelphia-based physician Bruce Hoffman, MD, diagnosed her with rheumatoid arthritis.

It was the mid-1990s, and treatment options were limited. “I couldn’t go to work. I could hardly move,” says Ms. Crawford. “When I first got sick, I couldn’t do anything. I was walking around like a little old lady, but I had little kids.”

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

With time, her symptoms eased, and recognizing her passion for research, Dr. Hoffman suggested she get involved in a clinical study he was just getting started. Ms. Crawford quickly realized she was not eligible to be a participant; Dr. Hoffman asked if she would, instead, like to coordinate it.

That was 20 years ago, and today, Ms. Crawford is director of clinical trials at Arthritis Group PC, in Philadelphia, with Dr. Hoffman, James Udell, MD, and four other physicians. At any given time, she oversees 11 to 14 studies.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Introduction to the ACR/ARHP

Ms. Crawford has helped the practice grow, and she credits her success to the assistance of and services provided by the ACR and the ARHP. “The ARHP and ACR built our practice,” she says.

The ACR Annual Meeting took place in Philadelphia at the same time Ms. Crawford was getting started at the Arthritis Group (before the ACR and ARHP meetings were fully integrated), and Dr. Udell gave her a day pass. “He said, ‘Come with me,’ and he showed me around and said, ‘This is what’s happening; you should know about this stuff,” Ms. Crawford recalls.

He led her to the exhibit hall, where she handed out business cards and talked about the research side of the practice, including a new trial that was enrolling patients.

“Dr. Hoffman had three people in that one study, and Dr. Udell added 26 more,” Ms. Crawford says. “That’s how we got all of our additional studies, because of connections to all these people at the meeting.”

Helping facilitate research is her passion, and helping recruit patients into clinical trials is one of the most important things she’s ever done in her life, Ms. Crawford says. She has seen these trials lead to approval of therapies for rheumatology patients, and she never ceases to appreciate the contributions of patients willing to take part.

“I tell them: ‘You guys change the way medicine is practiced because of your willingness to be in a study,’” Ms. Crawford says. She reminds them that their contributions also trickle down to their children and grandchildren.

With a background in gerontology, Ms. Crawford never anticipated that a medical diagnosis would lead her down a career path in rheumatology research, but it’s one that has brought her immense satisfaction.

Volunteerism & Advocacy

As a long-time member of the ARHP, Ms. Crawford has been an active volunteer in several capacities, serving on the Education, Research and Ethics committees, as well as on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee. She is a regular presenter at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, and this year she gave a talk about getting a research practice started.

Her latest endeavor is to serve as the ARHP representative to RheumPAC, the ACR’s nonpartisan political action committee, which works on behalf of rheuma­tology practitioners and their patients. She just recently waded into the advocacy realm, visiting Pennsylvania’s capitol, Harrisburg, with the Arthritis Foundation and participating in several Capitol Hill days in Washington, D.C., with the ACR/ARHP.

Her interest in advocacy was born of the same appreciation she has for patients who make clinical trials possible. As residents of Philadelphia, one of the first industrial cities in America, many of the patients Arthritis Group enrolls are “blue collar people in working class neighborhoods,” Ms. Crawford says. “These people are changing the world, and these same people can’t get the drugs they helped get approved.”

Because of politics and prior authorization policies, complicated insurance issues and out-of-reach copays, many of these patients cannot access the “life-changing” biologics that have transformed what it means to receive a diagnosis of rheumatic disease, says Ms. Crawford. “And now [politicians are] talking about pre-existing conditions again, and this makes me crazy, because we have the tools, and we need to give them to people.”

The advocacy work has been meaningful, exciting and enlightening, she says.

Outside Interests

When Crawford is not at work, she is fulfilling another one of her passions: living history. As a costumed actor, “I teach 18th-century medical programs at schools and museums and parks,” says Ms. Crawford, noting that she has a “huge collection of 18th-century medical artifacts and books.” (Editor’s note: The Rheumatologist profiled Ms. Crawford’s outside interests in Rheum After 5 in January 2015.)

Her hobby gives her access to interesting historical stories, especially because she spends time poring through the earliest records at Pennsylvania Hospital, which was founded in 1751 by Ben Franklin and Dr. Thomas Ward.

Each of her children has also joined her as a living historian at various points along the way. In fact, her younger son is “a private in the 17th Regiment of Foot, His Majesty,” Ms. Crawford says, and her daughter, who lives in London, will occasionally accompany her to a ball.

At 65, Ms. Crawford has no immediate plans to retire from her research role, although she knows retirement is on the horizon. With a background in gerontology, she also never anticipated a medical diagnosis would lead her down a career path in rheumatology research, but it’s one that has brought her immense satisfaction.

“I love what I do,” she says. “It’s one part science, one part sales, one part stand-up comedy.”


Kelly April Tyrrell writes about health, science and health policy. She lives in Madison, Wis.

Page: 1 2 3 | Multi-Page
Share: 

Filed under:From the CollegeProfiles Tagged with:Association of Rheumatology Professionals (ARP)Donah Zack Crawford

Related Articles

    The 2020 ARP Merit Awards & ACR Distinguished Fellows

    December 14, 2020

    During ACR Convergence 2020 in early November, the ACR and ARP honored a group of distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to rheumatology research, education and patient care. This month, The Rheumatologist speaks with the winners of the ARP Merit Awards and the ACR’s Distinguished Fellows. In addition, we bring you the first ever…

    Rheum After 5: Remembering Medicine’s Past

    January 1, 2015

    Donah Zack Crawford charts medicine’s evolution with collection of 18th century medical instruments

    First ARHP ‘Best of the Meeting’ Highlights Sleep Research, Osteoporosis Screening, More

    March 8, 2012

    “The line between ACR and ARHP sessions has totally blurred,” said Donah Zack Crawford, MA, during the presentation, “Highlights from the 2011 ARHP Sessions,” here at the 2011 ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting held in Chicago in November 2011.

    ACR Volunteer Leaders Visit Capitol Hill, Lobby for 5 Issues

    July 18, 2019

    BadBrother / shutterstock.com WASHINGTON, D.C.—Dozens of rheumatology leaders met with more than 100 politicos on Capitol Hill in mid-May as part of the ACR’s annual Advocacy Leadership Conference. Armed with research and advocacy training concerning a handful of important issues, rheumatologists, rheumatology interprofessional team members, government affairs specialists and others met with federal lawmakers, legislative…

  • About Us
  • Meet the Editors
  • Issue Archives
  • Contribute
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
fa-facebookfa-linkedinfa-youtube-playfa-rss
  • Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 1931-3268 (print). ISSN 1931-3209 (online).
  • DEI Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookie Preferences