When I joined NIAMS three and a half years ago, I talked about my commitment to collaboration and learning from the NIAMS community in my first director’s letter. Since then, we have done a lot of both collaborating and learning! I highly value the input from the NIAMS community on the development of our resources and in determining the direction of our research so that we are addressing the needs of the various audiences we serve, from researchers and medical providers to patients and caregivers. NIAMS regularly solicits feedback to understand audience needs. Over the past two years, the NIAMS

NIAMS strives to advance the best science on arthritis, musculoskeletal, and skin diseases, which have a profound effect on the quality of life for millions of Americans. To further the NIAMS mission—and importantly, to best steward the resources allocated to us by Congress—we are making some changes to our funding approach and strategy. These include reserving a larger portion of funding to support applications beyond the payline (which is the funding percentile up to which almost all grant applications will be funded). Historically, NIAMS has paid most of its applications according to a strict payline-driven approach, with limited funds available

Investigators funded in part by NIAMS have identified a novel type of cartilage cell that may have implications for regenerative medicine and could inform future therapeutic treatments for arthritis and other cartilage diseases.

We are pleased to announce a new and exciting program designed to create a more robust cadre of researchers dedicated to women’s health research. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) are partnering to launch a pilot program to support and train research scholars by helping them acquire and hone team science leadership and mentoring skills. The Team Science Leadership Scholars Program (LSP) will be funded by ORWH and embedded within the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases (AMP® AIM) program, which NIAMS and ORWH both support1.