James O’Dell, M.D., a national leader in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, recently received the 2014 Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Research in Arthritis. The award, bestowed by the national Arthritis Foundation, recognizes the most important scientific paper that will lead to a faster cure for arthritis and related diseases.
Dr. O’Dell is chief of the University of Nebraska Medical Center division of rheumatology and immunology and chief of rheumatology at the Omaha VA Medical Center. For three decades, Dr. O’Dell has been involved in advancing treatment of rheumatoid arthritis through research.
The basis for the award is a July 2013 article Dr. O’Dell published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. The study compared the effectiveness of drug therapies for rheumatoid arthritis and found that the use of a less expensive combination of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs produced the same clinical benefits as much more expensive biological treatment.
“Dr. O'Dell is well-known for asking the important questions related to the care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and that also translates in his research,” said Debra Romberger, M.D., interim chair and vice chair of research in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine. “We are so grateful to have him as a leader in our department and at our VA and excited that he is being recognized nationally for his stellar work.”
The Arthritis Foundation lauded the work for be highly impactful for patients who often struggle to afford their medications.
“The research stands head and shoulders above the rest,” said David Wofsy, M.D., professor in residence in the University of California, San Francisco Department of Medicine. “It was a true tour de force of investigator-initiated collaborative research that provided critically important insights into one of the most important clinical challenges in the field of rheumatology.”
William St. Clair, M.D., chair of the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology at Duke University Medical Center, said the paper received considerable notoriety, noting that it was cited as an important clinical advance at the 2013 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology “Year in Review” and listed as a major finding in the latest Annals of Internal Medicine “Update in Rheumatology.”
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