Children and Lupus - What Research is Doing to Help
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I’m Dr. Joyce Chang with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and I am thrilled to be a part of the Lupus Foundation of America‘s Research Week. Today we’ll feature the Foundation’s children’s research initiatives.
I first became interested in lupus research when I started my pediatric rheumatology fellowship. I saw important questions and gaps in current scientific knowledge. I wanted answers.
I received a grant from the Lupus Foundation of America to do exactly that. I wanted to understand what factors put children with lupus at risk for cardiovascular disease later in life. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading and most serious complications of lupus. Inflammation of the heart and lungs due to lupus can lead to heart attacks and heart failure.
I learned that while cardiovascular disease factors are different across patients, there are common themes. These include increased stiffness of the arteries and silent blood pressure abnormalities, despite the disease seeming under control.
I am so proud to say that my findings will help improve future screenings and treatment recommendations, and most importantly help prevent potentially life-threatening and serious complications of lupus.
When you make your gift during Research Week, you will support the work of scientists like me—and the Foundation’s Board will match your gift. Lupus is such a complex disease—each person experiences it differently. That’s why learning more how it impacts people, especially children, is so important.
We’re counting on caring people like you to make a difference this Research Week.
With gratitude,
Joyce Chang, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
P.S. My grant from the Lupus foundation of America allowed me to do innovative work that I could not have completed otherwise—and it led to additional funding from the National Institutes of Health. Your support this Research Week will help fund researchers like me—and be matched up to $100,000 by the Lupus Foundation of America’s Board. Give today!
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The Lupus Foundation of America
2121 K Street NW Ste 200, Washington DC 20037      |
