The 2020 ACR Awards of Distinction & Masters Class

This award truly reflects the awesome synergy among all my colleagues. —Dr. Warren

Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award

Joanne M. Jordan, MD, MPH, the Joseph P. Archie Jr. Eminent Professor of Medicine, emerita, in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, is the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award for outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology.

As the founding principal investigator and director of the Johnston County (N.C.) Osteoarthritis Project, Dr. Jordan’s clinical research has focused on racial, ethnic and gender disparities in osteoarthritis (OA), its risk factors and health outcomes.

“This award from my rheumatology peers is especially meaningful because it acknowledges that OA is now an important component of the ACR’s rheumatology research agenda,” Dr. Jordan says. “It also validates the biopsychosocial and inclusive research approach and vision we have executed in our 30+ year, community-based research program in Johnston County.”

Dr. Jordan received her MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. She completed her internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. In 1987, she joined the faculty of UNC School of Medicine and completed her MPH in epidemiology at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.

For the past 32 years, Dr. Jordan has worked as clinical investigator while also serving in leadership roles at UNC’s School of Medicine, including as chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, director of UNC’s Thurston Arthritis Research Center and vice dean for faculty affairs and leadership development. She retired this past January.

“It has been my great privilege to have worked side by side with so many talented and committed people from the local research and public health communities, all working together to advance insights into OA etiology, treatment, prevention and policy,” Dr. Jordan says. “This award reminds me that, ultimately, we conduct research to serve our patients, enhance their care, and encourage greater hope for innovative and improved treatment options in the future.”

During the course of her career, Dr. Jordan has also served on the boards of directors of the ACR and the Osteoarthritis Research Society International, and on multiple committees, where she has witnessed how innovation and research have changed the way rheumatologic diseases are treated.

“In my field of OA, a critical shift has occurred in our understanding of specific OA phenotypes and geographic and environmental variations in OA, and in the roles of inflammation, genetics, biomechanics, metabolism and social factors in OA outcomes,” Dr. Jordan says. “Perhaps most promising, clinical trials to identify disease-modifying OA treatments are now commonplace, with success no longer a far-off pipe dream.”