The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Arthritis Advisory Committee has named Dr. Gary S. Firestein, a local specialist in rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diseases, as chair for a term beginning immediately and ending Sept. 30 of next year. Firestein is professor of medicine and chief of the division of rheumatology, allergy and immunology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and also serves as executive director of UCSD’s Center for Innovative Therapy, which researches new therapies for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

The Arthritis Advisory Committee of FDA helps the administration make judgments based on science for its review of regulated products. The Arthritis Foundation, a national health agency which funds research for the disease, has supported Firestein with Biomedical Science Grants of $80,000 per year from 1996 to 1999, and $90,000 a year between 1999 and 2002, reports Debbie McCoy, the foundation’s group vice president for research administration.

In other Arthritis Foundation news, the San Diego chapter elected three new members to its board: Robert L. Ryan, C. Richard Piazza and Dr. Ilona Szer.

More than 500,000 adults and children in the San Diego and Imperial counties have arthritis, a disease that limits daily activities such as walking, dressing and bathing. It affects people in all age groups and all parts of the body, and can occur in more than 100 different forms. The foundation reports arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability in Americans over 15 years old, and annually generates 39 million physician visits and more than 500,000 hospitalizations. The disease is the leading cause of illness-related work absences; costs to the U.S. economy total nearly $65 billion annually.

The foundation’s San Diego chapter provides free arthritis clinics to those without health insurance, a youth summer camp, brochures, exercise classes and support groups to residents living with the disease. For information on these programs call (858) 492-1090.

—Lora Watters