The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) is an American voluntary health organization based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

whose mission is to find better treatments and ultimately prevent and cure

systemic lupus erythematosus Lupus, formally called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Common ...

(SLE or lupus), a debilitating

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated tha ...

, through supporting

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

. The organization was born from the merger of three organizations: the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) and the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation with the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR), which was founded by Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson IV, a member of the Johnson & Johnson family and owner of the New York Jets. As of 2020 the LRA's cumulative research commitment was US$220,000,000.

History

The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) was founded as The Alliance for Lupus Research in 1999 by former chairperson

Woody Johnson Robert Wood Johnson IV (born April 12, 1947) is an American businessman who is co-owner of the New York Jets and was formerly the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021. He is a great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, ...

, a member of the founding family of

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

and owner of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. The organizations's fundraising efforts include committing money to lupus research and charity walk-a-thons under the "Walk with Us to Cure Lupus" program, which raises funds and public awareness of the disease.

Research funding

The hallmark of LRA's operations are an emphasis on

multidisciplinary science Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

. Research funded by the LRA has included the 2008 International SLE Genetics Consortium (SLEGEN), which identified several genes associated with lupus. The Lupus Research Alliance has given more money to lupus research than any non-governmental agency in the world. As of 2015 the LRA's cumulative research commitment was over US$100,000,000, making it the largest lupus research organization and the only organization the funds lupus biomedical research internationally. One hundred percent of all donations from the public including donations in support of the "Walk with Us to Cure Lupus" program go directly to research programs because the LRA's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

funds all administrative and fundraising costs. LRA uses a

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

system to make all funding decisions.

References

External links

Lupus Research Alliance official website
{{authority control Biomedical research foundations Lupus organizations Organizations established in 1999 Health charities in the United States Medical and health organizations based in New York City 1999 establishments in New York City