Completed Bones, Joints & Muscles Pregnancy, Children & Inherited Conditions

Arthritis Research UK Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology at University College London, University College London Hospital, and Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trusts

Funder VsArthritis Charity-funded
Recipient organisation University College London
Funding £1.4M
Period Oct 2012 — Sept 2017

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Teenagers with arthritis are often caught between children’s and adult healthcare, with neither system designed for their specific needs. This Centre of Excellence will focus research and clinical care squarely on adolescents, a group that has been largely overlooked in rheumatology. The problem is that young people with conditions like juvenile arthritis face a “cliff edge” when they age out of paediatric services, often losing continuity of care and access to clinical trials. The Centre aims to close that gap by building a dedicated research programme that spans both paediatric and adult rheumatology, creating seamless transitions for patients. If successful, it will increase the number of adolescents enrolled in clinical trials—currently very low—and generate evidence that directly informs how their care is delivered. The Centre will also train a new generation of specialists and establish a national network in adolescent rheumatology, raising the profile of this neglected field. The immediate impact is on the healthcare system itself: better-coordinated services, fewer young people lost to follow-up, and treatments tailored to the biology and psychology of adolescence rather than extrapolated from children or adults.

View original technical description
This proposal is to support a Centre of Excellence for Adolescent Rheumatology, focusing on scientific and translational research, as well as addressing the health needs of Adolescents with arthritis, to be supported through a partnership between Arthritis Research UK, and a consortium of ?Bloomsbury' stakeholders: University College London, University College London Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trusts, and Great Ormond Street Children's Charity. The overall mission of the Centre is to improve the health and well being of adolescents with arthritis and other rheumatological conditions, through high quality research which informs and improves clinical care and pathways. We will achieve our key goals of establishing a critical mass in basic and translational research, through the appointment of senior academic Centre staff posts, underpinned by existing strengths in Paediatric and Adult Rheumatology at UCL. We will work to increase participation of adolescents in clinical trials, and to create seamless transition of research and clinical care from paediatric to adolescent and adult environments. The Centre will provide training, education and new opportunities in Adolescent Rheumatology and enable the creation of a National Network in Adolescent Rheumatology, which will greatly enhance this emerging field at both National and International levels.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Lucy Wedderburn (EPMC Awardee)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology Versus Arthritis at University College London (UCL), University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) NHS Trusts
Improving delivery of care and self management for young people with arthritis
Versus Arthritis National Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre for Children
Tissue research in childhood inflammatory arthritis (TRICIA consortium)
Centre of excellence in adolescent rheumatology research

Original classification

Special Strategic Award

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.