The Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology
The Arthritis Society (TAS) BC and Yukon Division has been the major funder of clinical, practically-focused research on arthritis in Canada. Establishing the Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology complements that focus by leading the way in fundamental research into the rheumatic diseases of childhood.
It is estimated that between 2,000 and 5,000 children in British Columbia suffer from rheumatic diseases and arthritis. Great strides have been made in managing childhood rheumatic diseases, but we are still far from understanding the disease mechanisms that will lead to the cure.
Since the early 1960s The Arthritis Society and the University of British Columbia, Department of Pediatrics, have cooperated in providing care to children with rheumatic diseases. Increasing demands for clinical service have gradually eroded the time required to pursue research. The Ross Petty Chair will provide a bench-based researcher in inflammatory disorders with an orientation to paediatric rheumatology.
Because of advances in understanding basic mechanisms of arthritis, the probability of finding causes and hence cures for rheumatic disease has never been more realistic.
The Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology will be the first endowed chair in Paediatric Rheumatology in Canada. It completes Mary Pack’s dream as it began, in care and concern for children.
Goal: $3,500,000
Dr. Ross Petty
Dr. Ross Petty is head of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics at BC’s Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia. He took his medical training at the University of Saskatchewan and his PhD in Immunology at the University of London. Author of the leading reference Textbook of Pediatric Rheumatology, as well as more than 100 publications, he received the James Cassidy Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2003 for excellence in teaching and patient care, and the Canadian Rheumatology Association Distinguished Rheumatologist Award in 1997.
