Given Dr. Lorig’s initial reluctance to work with arthritis, what changed her mind and resulted in her 30-year career at Stanford? “I did the first project, and then two things happened,” she recalls. “I began to truly understand that arthritis is a surrogate for all chronic illness. Hal and Jim Fries [initiator of ARAMIS] were always so eloquent in talking about the coming crisis in chronic illness, which was not something that I’d ever considered much before.” The other reason was the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program: “Since I didn’t have any nursing colleagues at Stanford, I was really a poor fit. The clinical scholars became my colleagues and my playmates—they were just such a remarkable, remarkable group of people!” And finally, she says: “I couldn’t find anything I wanted to do more.”
Stature as a Scientist
Dr. Lorig has spent a career dedicated to interventional studies with practical applications and practical value to those living with chronic diseases, notes Nancy Whitelaw, PhD, senior vice president for the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and director of the Center for Healthy Aging, both in Washington, D.C., who describes Dr. Lorig as “one of my heroes!” Dr. Whitelaw explains, “The questions she’s asking in her science are about issues and problems that are real to people. Her work is informed by strong theory that she interprets and puts into place in very appropriate ways.” In addition, she says, Dr. Lorig has the “guts and commitment” to put together a national training program, complete with all the tools and materials, that enables organizations to acquire the necessary skills to replicate her interventions. “It’s not easy, in this world of medicalization that we live in, to be passionate about self-care and self-management. But then, you know, she is no shrinking violet!” she notes.
