Highlights of the 2026 Inflammatory Arthritis Research Summit 

Vandana Suresh, PhD | March 24, 2026 

The Arthritis Foundation and the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) successfully co-hosted the Inflammatory Arthritis (IA) Research Summit Feb. 20 to 21, 2026, at HSS in New York City. Unlike the 2024 Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Research Summit, this year’s event focused more broadly on inflammatory arthritis, including psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), to reflect the Arthritis Foundation’s growing efforts to support research on inflammatory arthritis (IA).  

The summit featured two keynote speakers: Dennis McGonagle, PhD, professor of investigative rheumatology at the University of Leeds, and Dana Orange, MD, MS, associate professor of clinical investigation at Rockefeller University. Dr. McGonagle emphasized the central role of the enthesis in joint pathology, including the cytokine-mediated enthesitis theory of synovitis in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and PsA. He provided updates on the in vitro research investigating enthesitis in AS, axSpA and PsA, particularly the differential, tissue-specific and sometimes independent roles of the cytokine IL-23 in PsA and AS. 

Dr. Orange gave her keynote address on the link between synovial fibroblasts and joint pain. Her group discovered that in some arthritis patients, joint pain persists despite the absence of inflammation, driven by synovial fibroblasts that reprogram sensory nerves. Her research has identified 815 genes in these fibroblasts that produce substances such as Netrin-4, which cause nerves to branch and grow into the joint, leading to pain. She explained that during inflammation, immune cells could hinder neurite growth, but once inflammation resolves, neurons might regrow and re-innervate the synovium by following blood vessels. 

There were talks dedicated to emerging therapies for IA, epigenetic regulation in IA, the roles of sex chromosomes in IA and pain in inflammatory arthritis, among other IA-relevant topics. Of note was a session featuring talks by former recipients of the Arthritis Foundation RA Research Program grants. Peggy Crow, MD, physician-in-chief and chair of the Department of Medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and medical and scientific advisory committee member at the Arthritis Foundation, moderated this segment. 

Briefly, Wen-Yuan Elena Hsieh, MD, associate professor of immunology and microbiology and pediatrics at the University of Colorado, Denver, spoke about her group’s progress in identifying molecular and cellular signatures in patients who are positive for anti-citrullinated protein antibodies and then convert to RA. Theresa Wampler Muskardin, MD, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at HSS, shared results from the initial investigation of her cell culture device — the synovium-on-a-chip. This device, she showed, contains different cell types and compartments found in the joint, bioengineered blood vessels and a central reservoir for loading immune cells isolated from RA patients’ bloodstreams. 

Next, Christopher Striebich, MD, PhD, associate professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, presented his group’s work on StopRA: National, a repository of longitudinal clinical information from individuals who are positive for antibodies associated with RA but have not yet developed the disease. Last, Jeffrey Sparks, MD, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, shared his work on screening strategies to identify anatomical biomarkers of interstitial lung disease in early RA patients enrolled in the ongoing Study of Inflammatory Arthritis and ILD in Early RA, or SAIL-RA.  

In addition to scientific talks, the Arthritis Foundation and HSS hosted a networking reception, poster presentations and an informational session on training and career development opportunities for researchers at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. 

“The goal of the IA Research Summit in inflammatory arthritis is to bring together researchers from preclinical to clinical and all career levels to discuss unmet research needs in treatment and pathophysiology in inflammatory forms of arthritis,” says Steven Taylor, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation. “We are expanding our work into inflammatory arthritis at this conference and we plan to continue this effort in future conferences as well.” 

This event was sponsored by Union Chimique Belge (UCB).