Bryce Binstadt, MD, PhD, officially began his two-year term as president of the Rheumatology Research Foundation at ACR Convergence in October 2025, and he is already considering ways to shore up research funding, support early career rheumatology professionals through education and training programs, and encourage medical students to enter the field.
Before starting his term as Foundation president, Dr. Binstadt served as its vice president from 2023 to 2025. He has held a variety of positions with the Foundation and ACR. He is a professor of pediatrics and distinguished university teaching professor at the University of Minnesota (UMN) Medical School, and director of the UMN Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology. He also serves as director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Program, is involved with the administration of both the Medical Scientist Training Program and the Pediatric Physician Scientist Training Program, and runs a lab in the Center of Immunology, all at UMN. Before joining UMN in 2007, he was an attending rheumatology physician at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, as well as a research fellow in the Section on Immunology and Immunogenetics at the Joslin Diabetes Center.
The Rheumatologist (TR) met up with Dr. Binstadt before Thanksgiving to ask him about his career trajectory, why he is committed to volunteering for the Foundation and ACR, and what he views as Foundation priorities for the coming years.
TR: How did you become interested in rheumatology, and how did you get started?
Dr. Bryce Binstadt
Dr. Binstadt: I went to Carleton College, which is a small liberal arts school here in Minnesota [in Northfield], and I got involved in research at the Mayo Clinic during summers while I was there. I was planning to go to medical school, and I realized that I really loved research, so I decided to do an MD/PhD program at Mayo’s Graduate School and Medical School. I worked in an immunology lab, and of course, immunology is the science that underpins rheumatology, so there was a natural connection. After completing my PhD, I re-entered medical school and did some rheumatology rotations at Mayo, as well as some away rotations at different places, such as the University of California, San Francisco.
During that time, I just came to love rheumatology, and pediatric rheumatology in particular. I liked the idea of being able to take care of kids over the entirety of their childhoods: If we do it right, we can set them up well for a healthy adulthood. This was also at a time when the biologic medications were entering the clinical arena, so I saw an exciting future for the field.
TR: Talk about the rise of biologic medications a bit more.
Dr. Binstadt: This was when the biologic medications that we currently use to treat arthritis and other rheumatic diseases were just coming to market and clinical use, and so I was seeing the connection between what was happening in the lab and translating that knowledge into improved care for patients. We were gaining scientific understanding that was really going to improve patient care and patient outcomes, and that’s exactly what has happened. There has been a blossoming in the number of biologic agents—and other immunologic approaches—that we now can use to treat patients with rheumatic diseases. So, with my research background, it’s been really rewarding to understand the basic immunology behind all of these treatments and to now be able to translate that understanding into better care for patients.
TR: How did you become involved with the Rheumatology Research Foundation?
Dr. Binstadt: I got started with the Foundation when I was a fellow and received a Foundation award. I could immediately see that this was a great organization doing good things, so I started to get involved back in 2010. That was when I volunteered on one of the study sections for the Foundation, which eventually led to chairing a study section and participating in a portfolio review in 2013. I was also helping to guide the Pediatric Visiting Professorship program, which sends pediatric rheumatologists to medical schools without their own pediatric rheumatologist to educate students and residents (https://www.rheumresearch.org/file/FY23-Pediatric-Visiting-Professorship.pdf).
I then became a member of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council (SAC), which oversees the research and education funding programs, for three years. Afterward, I became SAC chair, a position that also placed me on the ACR’s Committee on Research, to ensure crosstalk between the ACR and the Foundation. When I finished my role as SAC chair, I was on the Board of Directors for the Foundation, chaired another portfolio review, in 2023 became the Foundation’s vice president and am now serving as president.
I should say I am very grateful to have been a Foundation award recipient several times. In addition to the fellow award mentioned, I’ve also received research awards and fellowship training awards. So the Foundation has been very supportive of my efforts at my home institution.
TR: Why do you feel it is important to volunteer with the Foundation and the ACR?
Dr. Binstadt: I volunteer my time because I believe in the mission, which is to advance research and training to improve the health of people with rheumatic disease. It may sound like a narrow focus, but those two things are vital for the field. Research helps us understand the basic mechanisms driving rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other diseases, and that knowledge has allowed research groups, including those at pharmaceutical companies and other industry partners, to develop more effective and safer therapies for patients. Research is why we had the explosion in numbers of biologic medications. You need well-trained people on the front lines taking care of patients, and so that educational mission of the Foundation is essential as well.
The Foundation supports rheumatologists and advanced practice providers along the entire training pipeline, from undergraduate through medical school, residency, fellowship and early career to ensure that we’re maintaining the rheumatology workforce.
If either of those things—research or training—isn’t going full steam ahead, the entire field falls back. That’s exactly what the Foundation does—it keeps both going full steam ahead.
TR: Would you describe that training-and-support pipeline a bit more?
Dr. Binstadt: The Foundation works through several avenues. For one thing, the Foundation now sponsors an event called Choose Rheumatology at ACR Convergence, which is open to medical students and residents considering a career in rheumatology. At ACR Convergence in October 2025, the event included a panel of rheumatologists who talked about their career paths and networking opportunities to highlight what a great field rheumatology is.
Once trainees are in the pipeline, the Foundation offers career development awards for those interested in research. These are for medical students, residents, fellows and other early career investigators to help them get a firm footing.
And of course, the Foundation funds fellowship programs to train new pediatric and adult rheumatologists. That includes funding for existing programs and positions, as well as creating new positions in existing programs and completely new programs. The idea is to expand the number of positions available each year. In addition, the Foundation awards funding to rheumatology practices, so they can train nurse practitioners (NPs) or physician associates (PAs), which ultimately gives patients more options when looking for a rheumatology provider.
Overall, the Foundation has a broad portfolio of grants that are focused on these synergistic missions of research and training.
TR: What continuing or new initiatives do you plan to pursue as president?
Dr. Binstadt: There are three. The first centers on keeping researchers going during the challenging times we are facing at the federal level with cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. As a large private funder of rheumatology research, the Foundation has a key role in making sure that researchers are able to continue their work. This past year, the Foundation board approved an additional $1 million in emergency funding to help early career researchers who have applied for NIH grants, but are faced with NIH delays.
The Foundation is able to provide support because of the generosity of donors who have made large and small commitments, and because of our industry partners who have stepped up. We are very thankful for that support. Hopefully the federal situation will improve, but until then, the Foundation will continue to look for ways to help fund research.
A second initiative that is very exciting is fostering partnerships with other rheumatology organizations. In this past year, the Foundation partnered with the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) to create the Empowering Lupus Research Partnership (https://www.rheumresearch.org/the-foundation/press-releases/elr). Through this partnership, the Foundation and LRA are combining expertise and resources to assist early and mid-career investigators, and support the discovery and development of next-generation lupus diagnostics and treatments. It’s a really wonderful partnership, and I think there are opportunities to do the same with similar organizations.
I’m also very focused on ways to attract more people to the field, because workforce projections show that we’re going to need more providers in both pediatric and adult rheumatology. The Choose Rheumatology initiative is an important part of that, and I hope to explore some other initiatives along those lines, too.
TR: What else is on the docket for the coming year?
Dr. Binstadt: We are currently developing a new three-year strategic plan, and it comes at the same time that the ACR is doing its own strategic planning, so we’re doing them in parallel. We’ll get input from key stakeholders, and I think the big questions from that will be: How do we best use our considerable but limited resources? How do we prioritize where to put our funding? And what metrics should we use to measure success of our initiatives? I’m eager to see what comes out of that.
I also see opportunities to think creatively about our partnerships with industry, including pharmaceutical companies as well as non-pharma corporate partners, such as device manufacturers. Companies are now starting to recover from the pandemic and are in a better position to do more philanthropic work, and their progress depends on research. The Foundation’s development team already works closely with many companies, and I’m hoping not only to strengthen these existing relationships, but also develop new ones. For instance, almost every company has employees who have rheumatic diseases, so it is in their interest to invest in research and training of rheumatologists as a way to keep their workforce healthy. To that end, I hope to broaden our scope to reach out to non-health-related companies, and I’m excited about that.
TR: Is there anything you would like to add about the Foundation?
Dr. Binstadt: I would like to highlight the fantastic Foundation staff including Eryn Marchiolo, MPH, our new executive director and everyone on her team. They make volunteering not only easy, but a joy.
TR: Finally, what is something that readers may not know about you, but should, or might like to, know?
Dr. Binstadt: I like being outdoors, doing things like playing tennis and water skiing, and I love spending time with my family. We take an annual trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota, where we’re completely off the grid, and we really enjoy it. I have two daughters who are in college now, and they still look forward to that trip every summer. It’s wonderful being outdoors and active together.
Leslie Mertz, PhD, is a Michigan-based journalist.