Contact Information
Summary
Clare Grady, M.D., completed a bachelor of science at Austin Peay State University in 2018. She subsequently pursued a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Florida from 2018 to 2022. She is currently a resident at the Georgetown University neurosurgical residency program in partnership with the NIH. She will graduate in 2029. For her integrated research time during the PGY-4 and PGY-5 years, Dr. Grady has joined Dr. Kaplan’s lab at NIAMS to investigate the pathophysiology of facet joint osteoarthritis in the lumbar spine.
Research Statement
Low back pain (LBP) has become the leading cause of disability worldwide. Facet joint (FJ) pain is a significant contributor, with a notable 15-45% of LBP attributed to the FJ. However, the underlying pathophysiology of FJ osteoarthritis (OA) and its contribution to pain is poorly understood. FJs are true synovial joints with a synovial membrane comprised of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). FLS play a key role in synovial inflammation and cartilage degradation in knee OA and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) through the production of cytokines and proteases. FLS exhibit differing inflammatory transcriptomes amongst knee OA and RA grades, but the role of FLS in lumbar FJ OA is not well understood. We aim to identify FLS phenotypes and associated inflammatory transcriptomes in facets of varying grades and investigate FLS-mediated cytokine upregulation in relation to pain.
Scientific Publications
Education
Austin Peay State
University Bachelor of Science (2014-2018)
University of Florida College of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine (2018-2022)
Medstar Georgetown University Hospital
Neurosurgical Residency (2022-2029)