Each summer, labs across the NIH welcome college students and recent grads eager to jumpstart their biomedical research careers. The junior scientists dive into lab work and conduct innovative experiments designed to fill knowledge gaps in their chosen area of study. For NIAMS trainees, the institute’s annual IRP Scientific Retreat offers important professional development opportunities.

Understanding and treating joint pain is important to improving long-term health—and a fundamental part of the NIAMS mission. With that imperative in mind, I’m delighted that NIAMS is supporting a new Consortium that may lead us closer to ultimately being able to restore joint health. The Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) Consortium is part of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, an aggressive, trans-NIH effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis.

A recent 2-day NIH workshop aimed to better understand health disparities in caring for and treating people with osteoarthritis (OA) and the role played by social determinants of health. NIAMS, NIA and NIMHD sponsored the event.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic and its challenges have a longstanding impact on conditions that fall within the mission of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Responding to this challenge, NIAMS has published a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to promote research opportunities on HIV/AIDS (NOT-AR-23-004). Applications are being accepted through January 7, 2028. The NOSI alerts potential applicants to the NIAMS of an area of special interest in HIV/AIDS-associated comorbidities that are within the Institute’s mission. NIH has provided the largest public investment in HIV/AIDS research globally. In line with overall NIH efforts, NIAMS encourages observational

NIAMS held a roundtable discussion (September 2022) focused on regenerative medicine approaches for cartilage preservation and restoration in knee osteoarthritis (OA). Researchers, clinicians and FDA and patient representatives met virtually with NIAMS leadership to discuss where and how the institute could facilitate progress in the field.

The mechanisms affecting people’s motivation to exercise are not well understood. An NIH-funded team of researchers set out to identify factors affecting exercise performance in mice.