To facilitate collaboration among the NIH Institutes, other Federal agencies, voluntary and professional organizations, and industry with an interest in lupus, the NIH established the Lupus Federal Working Group (LFWG) in 2003.

The LFWG is led by the NIAMS, the lead federal agency for research on lupus. The LFWG includes representatives from all relevant Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies and other Federal departments with an interest in lupus, including:

  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
  • National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
  • National Eye Institute.
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
  • National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
  • National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
  • Office of Research on Women’s Health.
  • HHS Office on Women’s Health.
  • U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
  • Health Resources and Services Administration.
  • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Voluntary organizations and representatives from the private sector.

Information for Researchers

The new Action Plan for Lupus Research mirrors current understanding of the disease and to reflect scientific opportunities for advancement. The plan supplements and enhances ongoing activities of the NIH, including the activities in the NIAMS Strategic Plan 2020-2024.

Through the individual and collaborative activities of researchers, clinicians, and stakeholders in the lupus community, there have been significant advances in the understanding of disease mechanisms, evolution of new partnerships, and advances in drug discovery and development that have fostered candidate therapeutics, FDA approval of a new therapeutic, and improvements in the care and quality of life for affected individuals. In light of this progress, at the request of the Congressional Lupus Caucus, the NIAMS led a trans-NIH effort to develop a new NIH Action Plan for Lupus Research that was released in January 2016.

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