Arthritis Foundation Awards $255K to Advance Community Health in Arthritis Care
These three research grants are focused on helping to address gaps in arthritis care.
Nov. 20, 2025
As part of its continued commitment to reducing barriers to arthritis treatment, the Arthritis Foundation has awarded almost $255,000 through its Community Health program. The exceptional list of investigators recognized for this year’s awards includes Daphne Lew, PhD, from Washington University in St. Louis; Laura Baehr, PT, DPT, PhD, from Drexel University in Philadelphia; and Rachael Stovall, MD, MAS, from the University of Washington.
“For the Arthritis Foundation, we believe that addressing gaps in arthritis care is paramount in achieving health fairness across different communities in the United States,” says Steve Taylor, MBA, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation. “We are incredibly excited about the research projects we are supporting through our Community Health program. These projects provide the opportunity to look closer at impediments in arthritis care and find effective solutions.”
Chronic diseases, like arthritis, severely impact health outcomes. In addition, the conditions in which people with arthritis are born, live and age also affect their health, functioning and quality of life. Therefore, we need to understand social risk factors, such as food insecurity or social isolation, that may adversely affect those with arthritis.
With her award, Dr. Lew will investigate effective practices to address social risk factors in clinical settings. Leveraging data stored in electronic health records, her team will use artificial intelligence to scrutinize documentation of social risk factors in clinical notes. They will complement their analyses of patient records with information gleaned from focus groups of rheumatology patients and providers on the attitudes, behaviors and workflow practices influencing challenges related to social risk factors. Their goal is to create report cards for physicians to provide insight into their current clinical practices related to social risk factors. Further, these report cards can facilitate educational interventions to enhance rheumatology providers’ skills in addressing these factors.
Another reality of people with arthritis is that half of older adults with osteoarthritis (OA) do not get enough physical activity, even though it improves symptoms and overall health. Economic hardship or living in an area with few resources makes it even less likely to get enough physical activity. As an innovative solution, Dr. Baehr will determine the efficacy of Bingocize, a National Council on Aging evidence-based program designed to overcome sedentary behavior through a multimodal approach combining exercise practice, exercise education and socialization. With her Arthritis Foundation-funded project, she aims to identify factors influencing the implementation of Bingocize in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage.
In a project exploring ways to promote physical activity among people with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), Dr. Stovall and her team will assess the feasibility and adherence to a digital health app called ExerciseRx. The app, integrated with a patient’s electronic health record, can deliver early, personalized exercise prescriptions to patients with axSpA at a safety-net county hospital. Her team will evaluate whether digital intervention improves clinical outcomes and helps overcome barriers, such as limited in-person access to physical therapy, for axSpA patients from low-income communities.
The Community Health program awards have been made possible by generous contributions from donors. This initiative provides seed funding for innovative interventions that improve health care access and health outcomes in communities with social, economic and environmental gaps in arthritis care.
As part of its continued commitment to reducing barriers to arthritis treatment, the Arthritis Foundation has awarded almost $255,000 through its Community Health program. The exceptional list of investigators recognized for this year’s awards includes Daphne Lew, PhD, from Washington University in St. Louis; Laura Baehr, PT, DPT, PhD, from Drexel University in Philadelphia; and Rachael Stovall, MD, MAS, from the University of Washington.
“For the Arthritis Foundation, we believe that addressing gaps in arthritis care is paramount in achieving health fairness across different communities in the United States,” says Steve Taylor, MBA, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation. “We are incredibly excited about the research projects we are supporting through our Community Health program. These projects provide the opportunity to look closer at impediments in arthritis care and find effective solutions.”
Chronic diseases, like arthritis, severely impact health outcomes. In addition, the conditions in which people with arthritis are born, live and age also affect their health, functioning and quality of life. Therefore, we need to understand social risk factors, such as food insecurity or social isolation, that may adversely affect those with arthritis.
With her award, Dr. Lew will investigate effective practices to address social risk factors in clinical settings. Leveraging data stored in electronic health records, her team will use artificial intelligence to scrutinize documentation of social risk factors in clinical notes. They will complement their analyses of patient records with information gleaned from focus groups of rheumatology patients and providers on the attitudes, behaviors and workflow practices influencing challenges related to social risk factors. Their goal is to create report cards for physicians to provide insight into their current clinical practices related to social risk factors. Further, these report cards can facilitate educational interventions to enhance rheumatology providers’ skills in addressing these factors.
Another reality of people with arthritis is that half of older adults with osteoarthritis (OA) do not get enough physical activity, even though it improves symptoms and overall health. Economic hardship or living in an area with few resources makes it even less likely to get enough physical activity. As an innovative solution, Dr. Baehr will determine the efficacy of Bingocize, a National Council on Aging evidence-based program designed to overcome sedentary behavior through a multimodal approach combining exercise practice, exercise education and socialization. With her Arthritis Foundation-funded project, she aims to identify factors influencing the implementation of Bingocize in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage.
In a project exploring ways to promote physical activity among people with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), Dr. Stovall and her team will assess the feasibility and adherence to a digital health app called ExerciseRx. The app, integrated with a patient’s electronic health record, can deliver early, personalized exercise prescriptions to patients with axSpA at a safety-net county hospital. Her team will evaluate whether digital intervention improves clinical outcomes and helps overcome barriers, such as limited in-person access to physical therapy, for axSpA patients from low-income communities.
The Community Health program awards have been made possible by generous contributions from donors. This initiative provides seed funding for innovative interventions that improve health care access and health outcomes in communities with social, economic and environmental gaps in arthritis care.
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