The 2023 ARP Merit Awards

Research conducted by Dr. White focuses on physical activity, sedentary behavior and physical functioning in older adults, people with knee osteoarthritis and people after joint replacement. His research uses large existing datasets to answer questions related to physical functioning and physical activity. He is also conducting clinical trials to lead ways to better promote and increase physical activity while decreasing sedentary behavior in people with knee osteoarthritis and after joint replacement.

Dr. White is the director of the Delaware ACTIVE Lab, which is focused on the study of free-living behaviors in the home and community environment and how these behaviors benefit health. The goal of the lab is to develop clinically feasible and practical ways to help older adults and those with arthritis sit less and be more active.

An associate editor of Arthritis Care & Research, Dr. White is also an active member in the American Physical Therapy Association, the Association of Rheumatology Professionals and the Osteoarthritis Research Society International. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Rheumatology Research Foundation.

Dr. White has served on the Rheumatology Research Foundation Board of Directors, as a voting member of the ACR’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Guidelines Development Team and the Osteoarthritis Guidelines Development Team, as a member of the Early Career Investigator Subcommittee and as a member of the Foundation’s Core Portfolio Review Panel.

Dr. White is an author of nearly 90 articles and has given scores of peer-reviewed presentations at national and international scientific meetings.

“I am tremendously honored to receive the ARP’s Excellence in Investigative Mentoring Award,” says Dr. White. “Many if not all of the challenging clinical problems we study will take multiple generations to address. Thus, I personally value training the next cadre of scientists in a manner that inspires their interests and helps solve the many complex clinical problems in rheumatology and rehabilitation.”

ARP Lifetime Achievement Award

Among the ARP’s highest honors is the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is presented to a current or past member who has made meaningful and lasting contributions to the field of rheumatology. This year’s award recipient is Jan K. Richardson, PT, PhD, OCS, FAPTA, chief medical officer for Medical Outcome Indicators, Washington, Pa., and professor emeritus, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, N.C. Dr. Richardson has also served as chief clinical officer for Universal SmartComp, Washington, Pa., as well as a professor of community and family medicine, and executive director of the Department of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy at Duke University Medical Center.