July 2014

President's Corner

Steve Gnatz, MD, MHA

The USBJI Board approved an updated strategic plan at its meeting in June, very kindly and expertly hosted by Dr. Tom Best at Ohio State University. The plan is designed to guide us over the next three years, and has been posted on our website. At the AAOS annual meeting earlier this year, Dr. Kim Templeton, our immediate Past-President, hosted a discussion with other past presidents about the USBJI. They made some important points, and these are reflected in the updated plan. The over-riding point they made is that the USBJI (and Bone and Joint Decade) was formed to promote working together to raise the profile of musculoskeletal disease, but a silo mentality is still far too prevalent among our societies.

They suggested we need to do a better job promoting collectivism and the benefits that are to be derived by working collaboratively. The founder of the Bone and Joint Decade, Dr. Lars Lidgren, frequently used the quote, “A rising tide raises all boats.” And with an eye on the reforms that will take place in our healthcare system and the still low priority given to musculoskeletal health, as Benjamin Franklin said (and I write this on the anniversary of our Independence Day) “If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.”

In a few months we will publish an updated edition of The Burden of Musculoskeletal Diseases in the United States: Prevalence, Societal and Economic Cost (BMUS). Led by Stuart Weinstein, MD, and Edward Yelin, PhD, this publication is the cornerstone for advocacy. During the June Board meeting we heard viewpoints from Dr. Nancy Baker, a researcher, Graham Newson, Associate Director, Office of Government Relations, AAOS, and Bill Kolter, Vice President, Biomet, on why this publication is important to them. Graham referred to the importance of providing this accurate and concise information to legislators and their staff, ready-made facts and talking points. Nancy showed how she uses the publication to describe impact, determine current practice, characterize populations, and justify sampling. Bill talked about how BMUS is a key component to the macro value story, to presenting the need for treatment, its value and benefit, of expanding access, and how it can also be used to head off unfounded media attention when this occurs. BMUS provides the meat upon which we can individually and collectively advocate for musculoskeletal health, and as a compendium of all musculoskeletal conditions it presents a compelling argument.

Some issues can only be done in isolation, but so many other goals can be attained faster and to greater effect, especially when thinking about the best interests of our patients, when working together. I hope you and societies in which you are a member will join in and contribute to this effort and achieving the goals outlined in our new strategic plan.

David Pisetsky, MD, PhD, USBJI President-Elect

The United States Bone and Joint Initiative is delighted to announce David Pisetsky, MD, PhD, has been elected President-Elect. Dr. Pisetsky will serve as President from June 2015-2017.

“I am very pleased and honored to be elected President-elect of the USBJI. I think that USBJI is an outstanding organization and can play a key leadership role in improving the lives of people with musculoskeletal disease, creating innovative programs to advance multi-disciplinary, patient-centered care and promoting advocacy and research. I want to express my appreciation to members of the Board for electing me to this position and look forward to working with everyone to carry out the important mission of the USBJI,” said Dr. Pisetsky.

Dr. Pisetsky, Professor of Medicine and Immunology, Duke University Medical Center, has been active within the USBJI for a number of years. He co-chaired the Summit on Value in Musculoskeletal Care, the Task Force that developed recommendations from that meeting, and he was co-chair of the Summit on Best Practices in Patient-Centered Musculoskeletal Care.

Dr. Pisetsky received his B.A. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College magna cum laude in 1967 and his Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1972 and 1973. He was then an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at the Yale-New Haven Hospital from 1973-1975. From 1975-1978, he was a clinical associate at the National Cancer Institute. He joined the faculty of the Duke University Medical Center 1978 as Chief of Rheumatology at the Durham VA Hospital where he has remained since. He became a Professor of Medicine in 1990.

For 35 years, Dr. Pisetsky has been an active investigator in the field of immunology, focusing on the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis and the immunological properties of nuclear macromolecules. His laboratory was among the first to demonstrate the antigenic and mitogenic activity of bacterial DNA and the ability of synthetic oligonucleotides to both stimulate and inhibit immune responses. More recently, he has investigated the immune activities of HMGB1, a nuclear protein with alarmin activity, as well as microparticles. He has published over 350 papers or chapters and has had funding from the NIH, VA as well as foundations. In 2001, he was awarded the Howley Prize from the Arthritis Foundation for his research.

Dr. Pisetsky served as Chief of Rheumatology at the Duke University Medical Center from 1996-2007 and remains as the principal investigator of the NIH-sponsored training program in inflammatory diseases. Dr. Pisetsky has taught extensively at the pre-clinical and clinical level. In his laboratory, Dr. Pisetsky has had over 30 students, M.D. and Ph.D. fellows. Dr. Pisetsky has served on numerous committees for the NIH, VA, American College of Rheumatology (ACR), Arthritis Foundation and the Lupus Research Institute. He is currently a member of the NIH ACTS Study Section as well as Chair of the grant review for the Lupus Research Institute. He was a Section Editor of the Journal of Immunology from 1995-2000 and, from 2000-2005, he served as Editor of Arthritis and Rheumatism, the leading journal in the field of rheumatology. He was the first Physician Editor of The Rheumatologist from 2006-2011.

Systematic Review of Recommendations and Guidelines for the Management of OA

Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism has published A systematic review of recommendations and guidelines for the management of osteoarthritis: The Chronic Osteoarthritis Management Initiative of the U.S. Bone and Joint Initiative. The paper appears in Volume 43, Issue 6, Pages 701-712, June 2014.

Policymakers – Make Musculoskeletal Health a Higher Priority

The USBJI has signed on to the Bone and Joint Decade’s latest Call to Action. The USBJI is the US arm of the worldwide Bone and Joint Decade, aka the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health. The Call to Action calls on health policymakers at national and regional levels, and the World Health Organization, for explicit plans to deal with the large and growing burden of musculoskeletal conditions and injuries on individuals and society. These need to consider:

promotion of an active lifestyle that will optimise musculoskeletal health at all ages
preventing musculoskeletal disorders and injuries
identifying and treating those who are at highest risk
access to timely, safe, appropriate patient-centered treatment to control symptoms, and diseases where possible, to prevent unnecessary disability
access to appropriate rehabilitation to reduce any disability, including self-management
enabling people to participate in the labor market
research to advance knowledge and care

As a signee the USBJI agrees to campaign as part of the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health to achieve greater priority for musculoskeletal health, coordinated by the Bone and Joint Decade.

BJD – Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health World Summit 2014

This year’s Bone and Joint Decade (BJD) World Network Conference will be held at The Royal College of Surgeons, October 12-13, in partnership with the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA), which is the BJD’s National Action Network in the United Kingdom (the USBJI is the equivalent in the USA). The annual World Network Conference is a strategically and scientifically important meeting for the musculoskeletal community, aimed at maintaining the momentum of the Bone and Joint Decade in order to raise the priority of musculoskeletal health and science.

The conference provides a forum for top opinion leaders in bone and joint health, the World Health Organization, participants from leading societies, journals, and the Decade’s 70-country strong network.

This year’s conference will focus on identifying the opportunities and benefits of working together, both between professions and disciplines but also across countries. There is also a World Summit that will highlight the burden of disease related to musculoskeletal conditions and the actions that need to be taken to control this. The call for explicit actions by policy makers to deal with this large and growing burden will be made. The Call for Action asks for explicit plans to deal with prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and research. Most importantly it calls for priority in the implementation of such plans to avoid preventable disability. Participation is an opportunity to inﬂuence what those actions should include.

The speciﬁc aims of the meeting are to:

agree strategies to implement current knowledge to optimize musculoskeletal health through health promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation with equity across and between countries and to support research to close the gaps in knowledge;
develop partnerships with other stakeholders with overlapping goals, i.e. initiatives to increase physical activity, prevent frailty, reduce disability or promote self-management;
inform policy makers about the burden of musculoskeletal conditions and what can and needs to be done to reduce this.

To date, from the USBJI Dr. Steve Gnatz, President, Dr. Kimberley Templeton, Immediate Past President, Dr. Ed Yelin, Co-chair, BMUS, and Toby King, Executive Director, will be participating, as well as Karen Hackett, CEO, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

To view the full program, click here. To download a registration form, click here.

NIAMS Long-Range Plan

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) draft Long-Range Plan is now available for review and comment. You can see the full draft here and comments can be submitted via this page. Comments are requested by July 31. This is one of the premier opportunities to give input into NIAMS activities.

Movement is Life

The 5th Movement is Life meeting of the National Caucus on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health Disparities Caucus will take place November 13-14, 2014 at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center, Washington DC. The Movement is Life Caucus, in which the USBJI participates, is a unique group of dedicated individuals and organizations whose mission is to “decrease musculoskeletal health disparities among women and racial/ethnic minorities by raising awareness of their impact on chronic disease management and quality of life. By promoting the importance of early intervention, we seek to slow musculoskeletal disease progression, reduce disability and encourage physical activity and daily movement to improve the overall health of the nation.” The caucus is composed of respected leaders within the community including faith based organizations, physicians and other healthcare providers and policy makers. A major theme of this Caucus is to increase awareness of the link between osteoarthritis, obesity, and mobility. These issues disproportionately affect women and under-represented minorities contributing to musculoskeletal (bone and joint) healthcare disparities.

Best Practices Article in The Rheumatologist

The Rheumatologist recently published an article on last year’s USBJI summit on Best Practices in Patient-centered Musculoskeletal Care. The article quotes presenters Dr. David Pisetsky, Dr. Kenneth Saag, and Dr. Mary Kuntz Crow. The full Summary and Recommendations from the summit are available on the USBJI website.

You are here

July 2014

In This Issue

Calendar of Events