New centre features in BBC article on juvenile arthritis

Michelle was just eight years old when she was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). In an interview with BBC News Online on 31 December 2012, she describes her life as a young person living with stiff and painful joints.

Now a marketing officer, Michelle (28) explains the medication and treatments she has received over the course of her life, part of which was spent as a patient at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

The new Arthritis Research UK Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology, funded by ARUK in collaboration with University College London, University College Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, aims to understand why young people like Michelle are affected by rheumatic diseases and how they can improve their treatment.

Professor Lucy Wedderburn, director of the centre and a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, says that the research will look at why some people are more susceptible to arthritis than others during adolescence.

You can read the full BBC article here.

The centre was launched in 2012. More information can be found here.