The ACR Honors Contributions to Rheumatology

Q: What’s the most important thing you learned from your mentors?

A: Attention to detail is critical. Comparative effectiveness and drug safety needs to be done with the same methodologic and scientific rigor that any lab-based researcher needs in doing experiments with animals or with cells. And sometimes, frankly, that requirement is a bit underappreciated in this line of work.

Q: What does this award mean to you?

A: It means that I am incredibly privileged and blessed to be working with such talented and supportive colleagues here. I’m both thankful and humbled by this award, and I recognize that my own research efforts are very much part of a team effort.

Henry Kunkel Young Investigator

Sampath Prahalad, MD, MS
Marcus Professor of Pediatric Rheumatology, Chief, Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Human Genetics, Emory University, Atlanta

Background: Dr. Prahalad immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 and found his calling fast. He completed his pediatric residency, chose a career in pediatric rheumatology, and pursued a fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where he began studying the genetics of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). He spent eight years at the University of Utah and then joined Emory as associate professor of pediatrics and human genetics. He is the inaugural recipient of the Marcus Professorship in Pediatric Rheumatology at Emory University. Dr. Prahalad’s research has identified associations between JIA and variants in HLA, LMP7, CCR5, STAT4, c12orf30, and TNFAIP3 loci. A member of the ACR’s Special Committee on Pediatric Rheumatology, he is investigating distant relatives of JIA patients for shared genomic regions harboring causal variants. He currently is investigating children with JIA who have a form of adult rheumatoid arthritis.

Q: What is the most important thing about being a mentor?

A: A good mentor is someone who doesn’t expect you to be like them. They encourage you to be the best you can be, and they understand your style and let you forge your own path.

Q: Where do you see the future of rheumatology research?

A: Clinically, it’s an exciting time. There are so many new drugs to choose from, which I believe are the fruits of prior research. From the research point of view, I think understanding more about the genome is clearly a huge new area. I think it will allow us to personalize the treatment going forward. I think we’ll be able to look at the genes and predict which drugs are going to work better for someone, and who’s going to be at risk for a bad outcome.