The 2025 ACR Awards of Distinction

Dr. Lozada has also been the ACR representative to the Board of Directors of the U.S. Bone and Joint Decade. He has also served as chair of the ILAR Executive Committee and president of Pan-American League of Associations for Rheumatology (PANLAR), where he served as secretary-general and president of the Science and Education Committee.

“Without a doubt, volunteering for the ACR and other organizations has been immensely rewarding and one of the highlights of my professional career,” says Dr. Lozada. “The multiple experiences, as well as the relationships and friendships forged, have been priceless. I would encourage all to give of their time to the ACR and actively participate in building the future of our society and specialty to the benefit of those with rheumatic diseases.”

Excellence in Investigative Mentoring Award

Dr. Neogi

The Excellence in Investigative Mentoring Award recognizes the importance of the mentor/mentee relationship. This award honors active ACR or ARP members for their contributions to the rheumatology profession through outstanding and ongoing mentoring. This year, the award was presented to Tuhina Neogi, MD, PhD, and Pamela Weiss, MD, MSCE.

Dr. Neogi completed her medical school, residency and rheumatology fellowship training at the University of Toronto in Canada. She is currently professor of medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (BUSM), endowed Alan S. Cohen Professor of Rheumatology, professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health and chief of rheumatology at BUSM and Boston Medical Center.

As a rheumatologist and PhD-trained epidemiologist, Dr. Neogi’s research focuses on OA, the most common form of arthritis and a leading cause of disability worldwide, and gout, a disease with suboptimal management despite availability of effective treatments. She has ~400 peer-reviewed publications and has had continuous grant funding since completion of her clinical training. Research contributions have included insights into risk factors for OA, the role of pain sensitization and other alterations in nociceptive signal processing in the nervous system in the pain experience in OA and other rheumatic diseases, triggers for gout flares, and application of novel methodology to rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease research. For her numerous research contributions to the field, Dr. Neogi received the 2014 ACR Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award, an honorary doctorate from Lund University, Sweden, in 2021, and the 2022 Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) Clinical Research Award.

A major focus of Dr. Neogi’s career has been mentoring early-stage investigators from a wide variety of disciplines, many of whom have successfully obtained career development grants and academic positions. She received her institution’s Research Mentoring Award in 2016 and a National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) K24 grant that supports time for mentoring. She is also principal investigator (PI) of a NIAMS-funded T32 training grant, aimed at preparing MD and PhD postdoctoral scholars for careers in clinical research in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. Beyond her direct research mentoring, she founded and served as the inaugural director of the BU Clinical and Translational Science Institute PRIME (Pathways to Research Independence and Mentoring Excellence) Program, which facilitates the transition from mentored career development grants to independent research funding. She served as co-PI on a Doris Duke Foundation grant supporting the retention of clinician-scientists and on an Arthritis Foundation grant to attract the next generation of rheumatology trainees.