KDHRC Shows Support of Lupus Project Work at LuCIN Community Meeting

Last month, Program Manager Dexter Cooper and Senior Research Manager Nikki Wanty attended the Lupus Clinical Investigators Network (LuCIN) Community Meeting. Each year, the Lupus Therapeutics and Lupus Research Alliance holds an annual two-day LuCIN Community Meeting, and this year’s conference took place in beautiful San Diego, CA.

This year’s Community Meeting was the most attended meeting yet; attendees included people living with lupus, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, community leaders, medical specialists, and lupus advocacy organizations. Conference leaders highlighted new lupus technologies like engineered cell therapy and a major project initiative called Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium (ABC). ABC will bring stakeholders together to discuss lupus topics and projects such as Lupus Nexus, Project CHANGE, and Patient Advocates for Lupus Studies (PALS), which strive to decrease barriers to lupus research. Specifically, Lupus Nexus aims to increase access to information about lupus though a data exchange program, and Project CHANGE and PALS focuses on increasing the representation of Black patients in lupus clinical research trials. The Community Meeting also provided an opportunity for attendees to interact with lupus project teams and speak with them about their work, including the overarching theme and goal of increasing racial/ethnic participation in lupus clinical trials.

We look forward to continuing our work with Lupus Therapeutics through Project CHANGE and PALS. Our collaborative efforts will focus on fostering lupus patient education through connection with other lupus patients and bolstering the lupus research community. To read more our lupus work, visit our website here: Our work – KDHRC