What’s New at GRAPPA

GRAPPA Annual Meeting & Trainee Symposium Post-Meeting Update (7/15/2020)

Thank you to everyone who attended the GRAPPA Annual Meeting & Trainee Symposium over this past weekend. Due to COVID-19, it was a challenge to convert our usually live meeting to a virtual format. We partnered with an excellent vendor who guided us into this new territory. The virtual format allowed many members to attend this year’s meeting. We had a record of over 400 registrants. Thank you to all our sponsors listed on the right side (of this page) who made this meeting possible. FYI: Presentations and Discussions will be available for one month post-meeting for on-demand viewing by meeting registrants. Here are a few highlights:

Trainee Symposium:

One of the highlights of each annual meeting is the trainee symposium. This year there were 30 trainees presenting oral and poster presentations representing 12 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Taiwan, UK, USA). The five oral presenters, in alphabetical order, were the following:

Sayam Dubash, MBChB, PGCME, FRCP, The University of Leeds, Leeds, UK,  Dactylitis is associated with Disease Severity and Ultrasound defined Erosive Damage in Very Early, DMARD Naïve Psoriatic Arthritis. GRAPPA mentor: Dr Helena Marzo-Ortega, The University of Leeds.

Renée H. Fiechter, MD, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. IL12p40/IL23p40 blockade with ustekinumab decreases the inflammatory infiltrate and modulates molecular pathways in the synovium of psoriatic arthritis patients. GRAPPA mentor: Leonieke J.J. van Mens, MD, PhD, University of Amsterdam.

Hanna Johnsson, MD, University of Glasgow, UK. Psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis skin are transcriptionally different. GRAPPA mentor: Stefan Siebert, MD, PhD, University of Glasgow, UK.

Sahil Koppikar, MD, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Incidence and Predictors of Heart Failure in Patients with Psoriatic Disease – A Cohort Study. GRAPPA mentor: Lihi Eder, MD PhD, University of Toronto.

Michelle L.M. Mulder, MD, Sint Maartenskliniek, The Netherlands. Measuring disease activity in psoriatic arthritis: the Psoriatic Arthritis Disease Activity Score (PASDAS) reveals residual disease activity in a DAS28 treat-to-target cohort. GRAPPA mentor: Mark H. Wenink, MD, PhD, Sint Maartenskliniek.

GRAPPA 2020 Pilot Research Grant Awards

This year GRAPPA awarded four research projects: three were awarded $25,000 each and one rheumatology/dermatology collaboration was awarded $35,000. The winners are:

$25,000 Awards

Anneliese Ashhurst, PhD, University of Sydney, Australia. Self-derived immunomodulatory peptide RP23 as a novel therapeutic for psoriasis. Richard J Payne and Scott N Byrne Research Groups.

Ashley Elliott, PhD, Queen’s University Belfast, UK. Predicting response to treatment in those receiving biologic therapy in Psoriatic Arthritis: Linking Clinical, Imaging and Molecular Markers to better stratify patients. Oliver FitzGerald and Stephen Pennington, Conway Institute in University College Dublin.

Paras Karmacharya, MD, Mayo Clinic, USA. Multimorbidity in psoriasis as a risk factor for PsA. Alexis Ogdie, University of Pennsylvania.

$35,000 Rheumatology/Dermatology Collaborative Award

Rochelle Castillo, MD and Di Yan, MD, MS. NYU Grossman School of Medicine, USA. Spatial transcriptomics of the psoriatic plaque as a predictor of progression to psoriatic arthritis and response to TNF inhibition. Jose Scher, NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

GRAPPA 2020 Election Results

Congratulations to the two new members of the Steering Committee: Lihi Eder, Rheumatologist, Toronto, Canada, and Luis Puig, Dermatologist, Barcelona, Spain.

Congratulations to the following members returning to the Steering Committee for a three-year term: April Armstrong, Dermatologist, USA; Christopher Ritchlin, Rheumatologist, USA; Stefan Siebert, Rheumatologist, UK.

Thank you to Ana-Maria Orbai, rheumatologist, USA, and Enrique Soriano, rheumatologist, Argentina, for your service to GRAPPA on the Steering Committee.

GRAPPA COVID-19 Guidance Statement

This guidance was prepared by rheumatologists, dermatologists and patient members of GRAPPA to provide guidance to persons with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis during the current COVID-19 pandemic, in particular to those taking immunosuppressant medicines. Click here to read entire statement.

GRAPPA’s “A Patient’s Guide to Treatments for Psoriatic Arthritis”

This guide is now available free for download. Written in lay language, it explains current treatments for psoriatic disease. Health care professionals are encouraged to provide it to their patients. The guide was written by members of GRAPPA’s patient research partner team, with support from GRAPPA’s treatment recommendations group. Printing instructions are supplied in a separate pdf. To download, please click on this icon: