The Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology

Chair to be established
Erin McPhee, North Shore News

Published: Sunday, October 05, 2008

The following is a Q&A with Dr. Ross Petty, professor emeritus of paediatrics, division of rheumatology, in the University of British Columbia 's department of paediatrics.

Fundraising is underway to have a chair established in his name, the Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology, the first of its kind in Canada .

What can you tell me about arthritis and rheumatic diseases?


"It's a broad and quite diverse group of illnesses to occur in childhood and adulthood but they're often very different in kids. . . ," Petty says. "They're not very common, but within British Columbia , there's probably a couple of thousand children who have some kind of chronic arthritis or other rheumatic disease."

Petty says that good numbers don't exist due to the difficulty in diagnosing individuals.

The most common form of rheumatic disease in children in Canada , North America and Europe is juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Why are rheumatic diseases not that well-known in society?

"They're not diseases that stand up and take a lot of limelight because they're not diseases which for the most part are fatal," says Petty. "Some of them are potentially fatal, but we're usually able to prevent that. They're diseases which create untold misery, go on for decades, and are at best at the moment manageable -- in other words we can control the disease in most instances, not all, but we can't cure it."

How important is it to support research efforts?

"It's absolutely fundamental," says Petty. "There's no question we have made great strides in treating the disease but there's also no question that there's a terrific amount to be done and it's not going to just happen, it's going to have to be figured out and we're going to have to figure it out by being good researchers.

"The challenge of rheumatic diseases research is huge because it's a very diverse group of problems and we don't really understand the processes. We have no idea what the causes are for a start and we have a limited idea of what the mechanism or the processes are that go on to create the disease. There's an enormous amount that has to be learned if we're ever to really be able to say we can cure these illnesses."

Petty says Omid Kiamanesh, who's participating in the 2008 Reggae Marathon in Negril , Jamaica , Dec. 6, through The Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion training program, is a "fantastic young man." Kiamanesh hopes to raise $12,000 through his efforts to support the establishment of the Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology. "I'm very appreciative of the fact that he's making this huge effort to run," says Petty.

What is the purpose of the chair?

According to Petty, the purpose of the chair it to establish a funded position which will be occupied by an investigator in paediatric rheumatology and devoted to understanding what these diseases are about so a cure can be isolated.

"Research is core to everything we do and there's an absolute universe of problems to be solved," he says. "We're hoping that a chair will move that process a little further along."

The chair will be the only of its kind in Canada and one of a few in the world. It will be established at UBC, positioned in the new research building at B.C. Children's Hospital. It will be established as soon as possible, ideally by next year, he says.

"Rheumatic diseases in children tend to be under-recognized and they have been latecomers to the realm of serious scientific investigation," says Petty. "But that's happening and we're going to push it even further to get at ways of curing these diseases, not just controlling them, but curing them. In order to do that we really have to understand much more about them. That's what the chair is about."

How does it feel to be the chair's namesake?

"It's a huge honour of course," says Petty.

Where does your motivation come from?

Through his career working in the field, he's met child after child enduring suffering and he's gained an appreciation for their valor, he says.

"They are incredibly brave kids," he says. "I don't see them being overwhelmed by this disease which I think would overwhelm me. They just soldier on."

Senya, who is Kiamanesh's honorary running mate in the Jamaican marathon, is a strong example, says Petty. "She just gets on with it," he says. "I'm in total awe of how our kids and their families handle this problem. It would be an enormous challenge for any human being and most of these kids and families handle it in ways which I wouldn't believe. So they're all big heroes to us who work in the field and a real inspiration."

The Arthritis Society (TAS) BC and Yukon Division has been the major funder of clinical, practically-focused research on arthritis in Canada. Establishing the Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology complements that focus by leading the way in fundamental research into the rheumatic diseases of childhood.

It is estimated that between 2,000 and 5,000 children in British Columbia suffer from rheumatic diseases and arthritis. Great strides have been made in managing childhood rheumatic diseases, but we are still far from understanding the disease mechanisms that will lead to the cure.

Since the early 1960s The Arthritis Society and the University of British Columbia, Department of Pediatrics, have cooperated in providing care to children with rheumatic diseases. Increasing demands for clinical service have gradually eroded the time required to pursue research. The Ross Petty Chair will provide a bench-based researcher in inflammatory disorders with an orientation to paediatric rheumatology.

Because of advances in understanding basic mechanisms of arthritis, the probability of finding causes and hence cures for rheumatic disease has never been more realistic.

The Ross Petty Research Chair in Paediatric Rheumatology will be the first endowed chair in Paediatric Rheumatology in Canada. It completes Mary Packs dream as it began, in care and concern for children.
Goal: $3,500,000

Dr. Ross Petty

Dr. Ross Petty is head of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics at BC Childrens Hospital and the University of British Columbia. He took his medical training at the University of Saskatchewan and his PhD in Immunology at the University of London. Author of the leading reference Textbook of Pediatric Rheumatology, as well as more than 100 publications, he received the James Cassidy Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2003 for excellence in teaching and patient care, and the Canadian Rheumatology Association Distinguished Rheumatologist Award in 1997.