Highlights From the 2025 Community Health & Workforce Summit
Strengthening access and equity in arthritis care were among the key points discussed during the Arthritis Foundation’s 2025 Community Health & Workforce Summit.
By Vandana Suresh, PhD | Jan. 13, 2026
The Arthritis Foundation reinforced its commitment to improving access to arthritis care by supporting research and education during its Community Health & Workforce (CH&W) Summit in November 2025. The event included several speakers, including Foundation staff working in community impact and advocacy, as well as keynote speakers who are also the 2023 Arthritis Foundation Community Health awardees.
In opening remarks, Arthritis Foundation President & CEO Steve Taylor, MBA, emphasized the Foundation’s five-year strategic direction with three core commitments: acknowledging physical and emotional health as keys to well-being, addressing and overcoming pain, and affirming our steadfast commitment to inclusion and impact. The Summit aligns with the Foundation’s mission to ensure that patients have access not only to treatments but also to physicians.
Following a brief introduction of the Summit’s agenda by Arthritis Foundation’s 2021 Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Scientific Research recipient and member of the Arthritis Foundation Medical & Scientific Advisory Committee, Andrew Chan, MD, PhD, the Foundation’s senior director of community impact initiatives, Jazzmin McKay, MPH, expanded on our efforts to build meaningful, measurable community impact in communities disproportionately affected by arthritis. This includes forming strategic, culturally responsive partnerships, especially within African American, Hispanic and veteran communities. Using a five-step framework (identify, cultivate, plan, implement, evaluate), the Arthritis Foundation has expanded from seven to 51 sustained community relationships, customized resources and delivered tailored education reaching over 130,000 people.
In the advocacy realm, Anna Hyde, MA, vice president of advocacy and access at the Foundation, explained that the past year brought significant federal uncertainty affecting National Institutes of Health arthritis research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Arthritis Program, and Medicaid/Affordable Care Act insurance access, prompting the Arthritis Foundation to take a visible leadership role in protecting these priorities. The Foundation issued multiple public statements, mobilized advocates and led coalition efforts. As fiscal year 2026–’27 appropriations and HR1 federal bill implementation unfold, the Foundation’s advocacy team will actively engage federal and state partners to safeguard research, public health programs and patient access.
Joining the efforts to improve access to arthritis care, keynote speaker Jim Jarvis, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, is using Arthritis Foundation support to build Indigenous-centered rheumatology education programs, recognizing that Indigenous people also are disproportionately affected by arthritis. His efforts include teaching students at Blackfeet Community College lab skills, immunology and fundamental genomic analysis, while engaging them directly in community-driven research on rheumatoid arthritis. They are expanding this model to other Tribal Colleges and Universities and organizing community-led rheumatic disease summits to listen, educate and build trust. This work aims to inspire Indigenous youth, strengthen cultural connection as a healing tool and ultimately train a new generation of Indigenous rheumatologists.
Keynote speaker and Arthritis Foundation’s 2024 Lee C. Howley Jr. Prize for Early Career Investigators recipient Candace Feldman, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is leading AWARD (the Academy for Workforce Advancement to Enrich Rheumatology Reach and Development), a national initiative to expand and diversify the rheumatology workforce through four education-focused pillars: mentorship, pathways, curriculum and leadership. Her team is developing and pilot-testing mentoring toolkits, a pathways “clearinghouse” with rotation and CV guidance, plus links to pipeline programs, curriculum materials and a leadership hub with training opportunities.
The summit concluded with Paul Larkin, PhD, vice president of Science at the Arthritis Foundation, thanking attendees and sharing ways to stay connected, highlighting links to: Partners for Patients, a program that equips providers with patient-facing resources; Joint Matters, a quarterly newsletter for health care providers; registration for the upcoming Inflammatory Arthritis Research Summit in February; and the Science Department website with information on research, programs and grants.
The Community Health & Workforce Summit is a free, virtual event for arthritis health care providers and researchers. The event brings together thought leaders and practitioners with expertise in clinical rheumatology, accessibility of care and community health.
The Arthritis Foundation reinforced its commitment to improving access to arthritis care by supporting research and education during its Community Health & Workforce (CH&W) Summit in November 2025. The event included several speakers, including Foundation staff working in community impact and advocacy, as well as keynote speakers who are also the 2023 Arthritis Foundation Community Health awardees.
In opening remarks, Arthritis Foundation President & CEO Steve Taylor, MBA, emphasized the Foundation’s five-year strategic direction with three core commitments: acknowledging physical and emotional health as keys to well-being, addressing and overcoming pain, and affirming our steadfast commitment to inclusion and impact. The Summit aligns with the Foundation’s mission to ensure that patients have access not only to treatments but also to physicians.
Following a brief introduction of the Summit’s agenda by Arthritis Foundation’s 2021 Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Scientific Research recipient and member of the Arthritis Foundation Medical & Scientific Advisory Committee, Andrew Chan, MD, PhD, the Foundation’s senior director of community impact initiatives, Jazzmin McKay, MPH, expanded on our efforts to build meaningful, measurable community impact in communities disproportionately affected by arthritis. This includes forming strategic, culturally responsive partnerships, especially within African American, Hispanic and veteran communities. Using a five-step framework (identify, cultivate, plan, implement, evaluate), the Arthritis Foundation has expanded from seven to 51 sustained community relationships, customized resources and delivered tailored education reaching over 130,000 people.
In the advocacy realm, Anna Hyde, MA, vice president of advocacy and access at the Foundation, explained that the past year brought significant federal uncertainty affecting National Institutes of Health arthritis research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Arthritis Program, and Medicaid/Affordable Care Act insurance access, prompting the Arthritis Foundation to take a visible leadership role in protecting these priorities. The Foundation issued multiple public statements, mobilized advocates and led coalition efforts. As fiscal year 2026–’27 appropriations and HR1 federal bill implementation unfold, the Foundation’s advocacy team will actively engage federal and state partners to safeguard research, public health programs and patient access.
Joining the efforts to improve access to arthritis care, keynote speaker Jim Jarvis, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, is using Arthritis Foundation support to build Indigenous-centered rheumatology education programs, recognizing that Indigenous people also are disproportionately affected by arthritis. His efforts include teaching students at Blackfeet Community College lab skills, immunology and fundamental genomic analysis, while engaging them directly in community-driven research on rheumatoid arthritis. They are expanding this model to other Tribal Colleges and Universities and organizing community-led rheumatic disease summits to listen, educate and build trust. This work aims to inspire Indigenous youth, strengthen cultural connection as a healing tool and ultimately train a new generation of Indigenous rheumatologists.
Keynote speaker and Arthritis Foundation’s 2024 Lee C. Howley Jr. Prize for Early Career Investigators recipient Candace Feldman, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is leading AWARD (the Academy for Workforce Advancement to Enrich Rheumatology Reach and Development), a national initiative to expand and diversify the rheumatology workforce through four education-focused pillars: mentorship, pathways, curriculum and leadership. Her team is developing and pilot-testing mentoring toolkits, a pathways “clearinghouse” with rotation and CV guidance, plus links to pipeline programs, curriculum materials and a leadership hub with training opportunities.
The summit concluded with Paul Larkin, PhD, vice president of Science at the Arthritis Foundation, thanking attendees and sharing ways to stay connected, highlighting links to: Partners for Patients, a program that equips providers with patient-facing resources; Joint Matters, a quarterly newsletter for health care providers; registration for the upcoming Inflammatory Arthritis Research Summit in February; and the Science Department website with information on research, programs and grants.
The Community Health & Workforce Summit is a free, virtual event for arthritis health care providers and researchers. The event brings together thought leaders and practitioners with expertise in clinical rheumatology, accessibility of care and community health.
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