Rheumatology Research Foundation Announces First Recipient of Gaylis Award
May 13, 2019
ATLANTA – The Foundation is pleased to announce Sou-Pan Wu, MD, as the first recipient of the Norman B. Gaylis, MD, Research Award for Rheumatologists in Community Practice (Gaylis Award).
The Gaylis Award provides funding for rheumatologists in community-based practice who, in addition to taking care of patients, want to test their own observations through research.
“Practicing rheumatologists have day-to-day exposure and establish relationships with patients. This allows them to notice important trends and nuances, yet barriers such as limited funding, time constraints and competition from larger academic medical centers hinder clinical research in this setting,” said Dr. Gaylis who has practiced in Aventura, Fla. for nearly 40 years. “Community-based practitioners have distinct perspectives with the potential to open a window of opportunity for disease investigation. I believe that merits support for novel research.”
The Gaylis Award was established by the Foundation, with a generous commitment from Dr. Gaylis, as a way to encourage practicing clinicians to research their ideas for new and improved treatment for rheumatic disease. The Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) selects an outstanding recipient of the Innovative Research Award for Community Practitioners (IRA-CP) to receive the distinguished Gaylis Award.
Dr. Wu is a rheumatologist at HealthPartners in St. Paul, Minn. With support from the Gaylis Award, he will explore the prevalence of gout among the Hmong population in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. “Gout is a serious and common health issue in the Hmong population,” said Dr. Wu. “A better understanding of why gout is so common among this population can help medical practitioners provide earlier detection, more timely treatment and aid the prevention of subsequent morbidities.”
“I’m very excited someone who has obviously come up with an idea that definitely is well-worth supporting is the first recipient [of the award],” Dr. Gaylis said. “It’s a subject that crosses genetics, ethnic lines. Gout is extremely common and poorly treated in the whole of the U.S., if not the world. More information as to genetic causes will help us develop a better understanding of this condition and eventually, this could point to potential pathways for improved treatments for patients.”
