The 2022 ACR Awards of Distinction

In 1996, Dr. Ruperto co-founded PRINTO (www.printo.it), which includes more than 700 centers in 93 countries worldwide. He took an active role in the management of the multinational consensus efforts that led to the development and prospective validation of the core set of response variables and preliminary definition of improvement for use in future juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis and juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus clinical trials. 

At PRINTO, Dr. Ruperto has managed all collaborative international academic research projects with more than 45,000 patients’ data collected from children with pediatric rheumatic diseases from over 300 centers in more than 60 countries. He has been pivotal in the design, management and scientific reporting of all clinical trials with advanced therapies in pediatric rheumatic diseases. 

Dr. Ruperto was awarded the Senior Rheumatology Scholars Award by the ACR in 1996, the Gerolamo Gaslini Prize for Excellence in Research from the Gerolamo Gaslini Foundation in 2005 and the Kourir Prize by the Paediatric Rheumatology European Society in 2002 and 2021.

In addition, the Pediatric Rheumatology Unit of Gaslini Children’s Hospital has been awarded recognition as a European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) Centre of Excellence in Rheumatology for the period 2008–23. 

Dr. Ruperto has published over 370 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is named on the Top Italian Scientists list. 

“It has been an honor and a privilege as an Italian pediatric rheumatologist to receive such an important award,” says Dr. Ruperto. “As founder and scientific director of the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trial Organisation, this prize recognizes the work of the network. PRINTO has collected over 43,000 patients’ data in academic international collaborative projects. It has been pivotal for all clinical trials leading to label indication for all biological drugs and more recently, small molecules for pediatric rheumatic diseases, with over 4,000 patients collected.

“This prize is the most significant achievement I have received, underlying the importance of collaborative research, which is crucial in pediatrics,” Dr. Ruperto concludes.

Innovation in Clinical Care Award

Herbert S. B. Baraf, MD, MACR, MACP, former managing partner and a founder of Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates, Wheaton, Md., is the recipient of this year’s Innovation in Clinical Care Award. Introduced in 2021, the award is given to a community rheumatologist who has significantly advanced the practice of rheumatology through novel clinical initiatives.

Dr. Baraf, who retired from practice this year, holds appointments as clinical professor of medicine at The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is currently a special volunteer at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, Md. Dr. Baraf is a Master of the ACR.