In May, we recognize Lupus Awareness Month to raise awareness on the impact of the disease, encourage funding for lupus research and raise interest among researchers to pursue drug discovery and development in this area.
Research holds the key to solving this cruel mystery and finding new treatments with fewer side effects. We believe in accelerating research efforts to find new treatments and, eventually, the cures that will end this cruel mystery. Since lupus is a prototypical autoimmune disease, research on lupus could have broad implications for other disease areas.
We will never find the cures without first uncovering the causes of lupus, understanding its progression, and identifying smarter and more efficient ways for getting treatments to people with lupus faster.
The past two decades of research have produced promising new discoveries and we have the opportunity to use these findings for identifying genetic, epigenetic, environmental, and infectious causes of lupus and, ultimately, developing novel approaches for lupus treatment and prevention.
There are many researchers who work tirelessly to help solve the cruel mystery of lupus. In 2005, the Lupus Foundation of America established the Evelyn V. Hess Award to recognize a clinical or basic researcher whose body of work has significantly advanced understanding of the pathophysiology, etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, or treatment of lupus. University of Cincinnati-researcher Dr. Evelyn Hess was a pioneer in lupus research, uncovering the link between environmental factors that may be linked to onset of the disease and mentoring many young investigators and clinicians.
The 2016 competition for the Evelyn V. Hess Award is now open. See the Evelyn V. Hess Award nomination guidelines (PDF) for more information. Then, click here to nominate a deserving peer. Please visit www.lupus.org to learn more about this cruel and mysterious disease and learn how you can join us in the fight against lupus.