Linking Disease Mechanisms and Outcomes in Rheumatic Diseases

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Mentorship has been identified as a critical facilitator for development of clinical research faculty. This K24 application seeks to provide protected time for the applicant to continue to mentor numerous trainees in patient- oriented research (POR) and to grow her current program in new directions to further expand opportunities to mentor in this arena. 30% of the applicant's effort will be protected by this award for these activities. The applicant has demonstrated significant abilities in mentoring trainees at all career stages and will continue to benefit from the rich and robust institutional environment that provides stellar research infrastructure and a large pool of patients and mentees to work with. During the funding period, further development of the applicant will include 1) Improvement in mentorship skills in POR; 2) Enhancement of biostatistics for POR; and 3) Construction of a collaborative niche for POR in pain in rheumatic disease. These skillsets will be achieved through a combination of seminars, meetings, courses, and collaboration with the U of M Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center and the U of M Fibromyalgia Center of Research Translation (CORT). In addition, these skillsets will integrate and grow through continued mentorship of trainees within currently funded POR and through expansion into pain research through the K24 mechanism. These research opportunities include: work that examines the biology of lupus skin in the context of patient presentation and disease phenotype (Project 1); A clinical trial examining the impact of microbial colonization on lupus skin inflammation (Project 2); A large, novel immunophenotyped cohort of lupus and psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis patients that provides large scale datasets for analysis and clinical correlation (Project 3) and; A new dataset collected to longitudinally map chronic pain and sensory sensitivity in patients with systemic lupus (Project 4). Successful completion of this award will result in successful mentoring of current and future mentees in POR and also enlarge the POR program of the applicant to ensure continued mentoring opportunities into the future.