Drs. Eric Gall and Robert Volz want to keep health care for Tucsonans suffering from arthritis on par with the best in the nation.
Along with former University of Arizona star athletes and coaches, they will raise clubs to that cause May 6 and 7 at the 24th Annual Lute Olson Golf Tournament and Auction to benefit the Arizona Arthritis Center.
Gall, the arthritis center's interim director, said the event provides a unique opportunity for Wildcat fans and golfers alike to have fun while supporting research for diseases that affect about 1.7 million Arizonans, including 6,000 children.
"We have approximately 15 really exciting players coming back, such as Joseph Blair, Damon Stoudamire and Harvey Mason. Golf foursomes can bid to play golf with the players, and people can hobnob with them the night before at the auction. It will be fun for everyone while raising money for the center," said Gall, a rheumatologist who realized a personal and professional passion when he co-founded the arthritis center with Volz, an orthopedic surgeon, in 1985.
People are also reading…
The multidisciplinary center was built on a foundation established by Dr. John Boyer when the University of Arizona College of Medicine received a grant from the National Institutes of Health in 1978, distinguishing it as one of 11 Centers of Excellence nationwide.
The facility has evolved to offer bench-to-bedside research to better understand the mechanisms of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, gout, lupus and nearly 100 other diseases of the joints and immune system encompassed by the term "arthritis."
Current laboratory studies include projects investigating the basic mechanisms of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus as well as osteoarthritis research involving the growth of cartilage from stem cells harvested from belly fat.
The center also conducts clinical studies and clinical drug trials, collaborating closely with specialists in the fields of rheumatology, orthopedics and orthopedic surgery, immunology, radiology and pharmacology.
Gall, who also is a professor of clinical medicine at the center, said it has been a leader in the development of artificial joints, medications and therapies used nationwide.
"Just in rheumatology at any one time we have up to 22 studies going on, and it is the same with orthopedics with new types of operations and treatments. … We also train scientists through our program and provide professional education and community outreach. But our No. 1 mission is research that will lead to comprehensive, cutting-edge patient care," Gall said.
Both Gall and Volz emphasized that arthritis is not only a disease of the elderly; while osteoarthritis, the most common form of the disease, often develops as people age, it also occurs in athletes and people with injuries and in children.
Another common form, rheumatoid arthritis, manifests in people of all ages. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite arthritis as the most common cause of disability; in 2003 it cost the nation $47 billion in lost earnings.
"Arthritis doesn't have the same gravitas - or threat to life - as cancer, stroke or heart disease, but it certainly compromises your life. Our focus is to try to develop new drugs, treatments and surgeries that will lessen or eliminate the disabilities associated with arthritis," Volz said.
That mission is dependent on grants and private donations since the center receives no state funding. Gall said the golf tournament itself has been a vital fundraiser over the past several decades. He is grateful to Olson and longtime supporters such as the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association and Desert Diamond Casino.
"Proceeds go directly to supporting research and moving the research agenda forward," Gall said. "They allow us to attract the very best people and provide state-of-the-art laboratories in order to look at ideas that may lead to funding for federal research grants."
This article also was published Sunday in the Star. Contact Loni Nannini at ninch2@comcast.net
