Bear Down Celebration benefits U of A's Arthritis Center

The one-of-a-kind event, which facilitates advanced diagnostics, treatments and preventive measures for rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, will feature a Meet and Greet, reception and presentations at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10, at the UA Health Sciences Innovation Building, 1670 E. Drachman St.

Guests can garner insight into the UA women’s basketball season, the move to the Big 12 Conference;and Reed-Francois’ vision for the future of Arizona Athletics.

The UAAC partnership with Arizona Athletics was started nearly 40 years ago by Lute Olson and his Wildcat teams, and Barnes said that she is gratified to continue the tradition and to bring her team on board.

“I’m excited to carry on Lute’s legacy because this cause matters to me. It is inspiring to see everything the Center has accomplished while serving the Tucson community and beyond. The research, education and training the Center provides benefits everyone, young and old. As someone who has personally felt the impact of arthritis, like many athletes, I’m excited to help others with arthritis — now and in the future,” Barnes said.

Reed-Francois is equally excited to add her support to the event that has such far-reaching impact.

“On behalf of Arizona Athletics, it is a privilege to once again partner with the Arthritis Center on this year’s Bear Down Celebration, which is just one aspect of our collaboration that has been ongoing for almost four decades. Arizona Athletics and the Arthritis Center have worked hand-in-hand through research, outreach and education to benefit the citizens of Arizona, as so many have been impacted by arthritis. I am looking forward to being a part of this year’s Bear Down Celebration and to ensuring that Arizona Athletics continues to do our part in the great work of the Arthritis Center,” Reed-Francois said.

Over the years, Arizona Athletics has raised more than $2 million to benefit the Center, and that support is invaluable, according to UAAC Director Dr. C. Kent Kwoh.

“We have a long-standing partnership with Arizona Athletics and various coaches and we are honored that Adia has decided to support the center with a dedicated partnership. It is a privilege for us to have UA’s first female Director of Athletics as part of this special event as well. Desiree Reed-Fracois has made a mark on college athletics and we are delighted that she is at the University of Arizona,” Kwoh said.

The partnership helps to raise not only funds but also awareness about the Center’s patient-centered care, which is grounded in research. Kwoh said the need for arthritis care and treatment continues to increase.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that one in three adults has some type of arthritis. An estimated 78.4 million U.S. adults age 18 and older are projected to have doctor-diagnosed arthritis by 2040. Our vision at the UAAC is to live a life free of arthritis through excellence in research, patient care, education and community outreach,” Kwoh said.

Community outreach and education are key components of prevention and possible treatments to mitigate onset and progression of more than 100 different forms of arthritis and related diseases. The most common types include osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia and gout.

UAAC has ramped up its outreach with the Joint Space podcast, which launched in August. The free podcast is available at https://arthritis.arizona.edu/joint-space-podcast.

“We have a terrific staff and the podcast really helps to elevate the message and profile of the Center,” Kwoh said. “We want to reach different audiences through different opportunities of engagement. We have had a tremendous response to our Live Healthy with Arthritis lectures and are now offer those online, which tremendously increases their reach and the podcast will do event more. It is a very popular form of consumption of information.”

The Center is also celebrating its designation as a Lupus Clinical Investigator Network (LuCIN) Center funded by Lupus Therapeutics and the Lupus Research Alliance.

“We were invited to join 58 leading academic medical centers in the United States and Canada and are honored to be part of this network. It highlights our commitment to lupus and our willingness to help the lupus community in southern Arizona and beyond,” Kwoh said.

Lupus is a chronic disease that occurs when the immune system attacks healthy tissues and organs. It is not a form of arthritis, but arthritis is among its most common symptoms.

“One study with data from the Phoenix area found that it was more severe and prevalent among Native Americans,” Kwoh said. “There is also higher incidence and severity among Hispanics and it affects more women than men. This LuCIN designation allows us to better care for the lupus community by offering state-of-the-art treatments. We currently have three clinical trials for lupus patients.”

Kwoh’s own research, which focuses on knee osteoarthritis, has made considerable advances in semi-automated segmentation of MRIs to identify predictors of those who will develop arthritis and those whose arthritis will get worse.

“Knee osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability and people may not realize it, but symptomatic knee osteoarthritis can shorten your life. That is why we need to address it,” Kwoh said.

Knee osteoarthritis limits mobility, decreasing the ability to get up and down from chairs, beds and toilets, and also the ability to walk at safe speeds.

“All of these are important. We know that you need to be able to walk at a certain speed to cross the street during one cycle of a traffic light, and decreased walking speed has been linked to a shortened life span. Knee osteoarthritis also indicates subclinical inflammation and that may contribute to a shortened life span. These are all being examined, but the important thing is we don’t have a treatment, so we are working to find treatments to slow or stop the progression or development of knee osteoarthritis,” he said.

To that end, the UAAC offers numerous opportunities for the public to participate in different clinical studies, including interventions to improve pain and function for Hispanics with knee osteoarthritis. More information is available online at https://arthritis.arizona.edu/university-arizona-arthritis-center-research-projects.

Opportunities are also available with ground-breaking research into osteoporosis and senescent cells by Joshua Farr, who was recently recruited by the Center.

“These aging cells can be related to a number of different diseases, including diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis. We are excited to have Joshua Farr join us to look at interventions that may decrease aging,” Kwoh said.

Moving forward, Kwoh, who was honored with a 2023 Master of the American College of Rheumatology designation, plans to continue to recruit talent that will enable the center to expand its services.

“We are continuing to grow and thrive. We are recruiting more scientists and rheumatologists to address the shortage in Arizona, particularly in Tucson.

We have new collaborations with the College of Nursing in terms of an emphasis on novel treatments for knee osteoarthritis in terms of brain stimulation to address chronic pain. The future is very exciting,” Kwoh said.