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National Research Grant Recipients 2026

Dr Jacinta Cheng awarded the ARA Ken Muirden Overseas Training Fellowship

Improving outcomes for rheumatology patients living with cancer

Dr Jacinta Cheng awarded the ARA Ken Muirden Overseas Training Fellowship

Ken Muirden Overseas Training Fellowship is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund. This grant is designed to give a rheumatologist who is about to or has completed advanced training in Rheumatology an opportunity to undertake further clinical or research training overseas in an approved institution in any country. 

Dr Jacinta Cheng is an advanced trainee rheumatologist from Eastern Health in Melbourne, Victoria. This award will enhance Dr Cheng’s clinical expertise and practice through exposure to a leading rheumatology centre and research unit at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada. This grant will enable Jacinta to gain new perspectives and a unique skill set before beginning her rheumatology career as a junior consultant on her return to Australia.

As part of the fellowship, Dr Cheng will be looking into rheumatic immune related adverse events in patients receiving immunotherapy. Immunotherapy medications work by repurposing the immune system to fight cancer and in recent years has revolutionised the treatment of many cancers. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of these medications is the development of autoimmune diseases and other immune-related adverse effects such as arthritis. The aim of this study – A prospective cohort study of adults with rheumatic immune related adverse effects associated with cancer immunotherapies, is to better understand the types of rheumatological immune-related adverse effects, how they progress over time, how they respond to treatment and if there are any negative effects of these treatments on cancer progression with the aim of developing evidence-based guidelines for their prevention and management to improve outcomes for rheumatology patients living with cancer.

Award summary

Dr Claire Owen awarded the ARA Research Fund/NZRA Philip Robinson Memorial Award

Characterising the plasma proteome of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR)

Dr Claire Owen awarded the ARA Research Fund/NZRA Philip Robinson Memorial Award

Dr Claire Owen from The University of Melbourne, is a clinical-scientist and top ranked Australian research in polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), a common but under-researched rheumatic disease despite affecting half a million Australians over 50 years. PMR causes pain and stiffness at the muscles and joints of the shoulders, hips, knees and spine due to uncontrolled inflammation. PMR continues to be challenging to diagnose and treat effectively. With the support of this grant, Dr Owen aims to uncover the ’protein fingerprint’ of PMR in blood samples using a new technique called proteomics. This research has the potential to benefit patients by enabling earlier diagnosis, more personalised treatment and improved quality of life for those living with PMR.

This award is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund and the New Zealand Rheumatology Association.

Award summary
03 Ian Teh

Dr Ian Teh awarded the Victorian ARA Fellowship

Liquid Biopsy Markers and Cancer Screening Value in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies

Dr Ian Teh awarded the Victorian ARA Fellowship

The Victorian ARA Fellowship is designed to support expansive self-development of trainee/rheumatologists within Victoria. The purpose of the award is to encourage rheumatologists to develop expertise in a clinical or research discipline in rheumatology and to use that expertise in and for the betterment of rheumatology in Victoria.

This scholarship with allow this year’s recipient, Rheumatology Advanced Trainee Dr Ian Teh, to travel to the United Kingdom to work with the Rheumatology Department at Salford Royal Hospital (SRH) and be part of their renowned Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies (IIM) clinics.

Dr Teh will gain focused experience in these specialised clinics and exposure to managing this unique patient cohort.

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are rare diseases where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own muscles. In some cases, these diseases are found alongside a new cancer diagnosis. Because of this link, international guidelines now recommend thorough screening for cancer in newly diagnosed patients with IIM, including up to three years of annual checks. These tests often involve multiple types of medical imaging. During the fellowship, Dr Teh will carry out two studies. The first – Identification of key markers on liquid biopsy of patients with Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies aims to explore whether a simple blood test could help detect cancer in patients with IIM. This could one day reduce the need for multiple scans. The second study – Economic Analysis of the costs of Guideline directed malignancy screening in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies will look at the cost of following the current screening guidelines—calculating the average cost of testing each patient and identifying any barriers to putting these guidelines into practice.

This award is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Victoria. 

Award summary

Dr Lucinda Robinson awarded 2026 Scholarship

Improving our approach and management of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

Dr Lucinda Robinson awarded 2026 Scholarship

The 2026 Scholarship has been awarded to Rheumatologist Dr Lucinda Robinson of Flinders Medical Centre South Australia.

Giant Cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common blood vessel inflammation in older adults and frequently relapses, often requiring long-term steroid use with harmful side-effects. This project addresses a significant gap in understanding GCA relapse which may lead to more personalised treatments, reducing relapse rates and steroid related side effects.

The award is made possible through the funding made by Arthritis Australia and The Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund.

Award summary
05 Gabriella Venter

Dr Gabriella Venter awarded 2026 Scholarship

Improving Care and Support for people living with ANCA-associated Vasculitis (AAV)

Dr Gabriella Venter awarded 2026 Scholarship

Dr Gabriella Venter is a rheumatology advanced trainee from Adelaide University.

Dr Venter’s project – The Impact of ANCA Vasculitis in Australia, will explore how people in Australia experience and manage a rare autoimmune disease called ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). AAV causes inflammation in small blood vessels and can lead to serious health problems including organ damage. 

The award is made possible through the funding made by Arthritis Australia and the generous support of our donors.

Award summary
06-Fabien-Vincent

Dr Fabien Vincent awarded 2026 Fellowship

Improving Understanding of Lupus in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Dr Fabien Vincent awarded 2026 Fellowship

Dr Vincent is a clinician-scientist with dual training in clinical rheumatology and immunology, complemented by expertise in biostatistics and bioinformatics. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at Monash University, where he leads translational research within the Rheumatology Research Group, Centre for Inflammatory Diseases.

Dr Vincent’s research tackles autoimmune rheumatic diseases, focussing on lupus, which currently has no cure. Lupus is more common and severe in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but we don’t know why. It is likely due to a complex mix of factors like social determinants of health (such as income, education, access to healthcare), environmental factors (such as exposure to sunlight, infections), and genetic/biological factors, but research exploring this in detail is limited. To address this Dr Vincent will lead a study involving multiple centres to investigate how these factors shape lupus in the Australian context, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They study will examine thousands of blood markers at the same time using advanced techniques called ‘multi-omics’. This approach lets us look at different types of biological information at once such as genes, proteins, and chemicals in the blood giving us a more complete picture of how lupus develops. Through this, the study aim is to find out whether current or new treatments for lupus will work well for this population. This study will identify the potential contributors driving lupus severity, generating vital data in this population, to ensure optimal management of this illness.

The award is made possible through the funding made by Arthritis Australia and Arthritis and Osteoporosis Western Australia.

Award summary
07-Felicity-Braithwaite

Dr Felicity Braithwaite awarded 2026 Fellowship

Busting Osteoarthritis Myths

Dr Felicity Braithwaite awarded 2026 Fellowship

Dr Felicity Braithwaite is a Research Fellow from the University of South Australia with a primary area of interest is developing innovative translational solutions to improve the uptake of best-practice care for osteoarthritis (OA).

Many Australians with hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) are held back by widespread outdated myths that cause harm. People are often told OA is a ‘wear and tear’ disease that will only get worse, and that surgery is the only solution. But this is not true. Working alongside people living with OA, Dr Felicity Braithwaite has identified a clear priority: a society-wide media campaign to replace harmful myths with hope and evidence called “Busting Osteoarthritis Myths”. In this project, Dr Braithwaite will create short videos explaining the latest science in simple, empowering ways providing the foundation for a future national campaign that improves outcomes and reduces unnecessary surgery for the millions of Australians living with OA.

The award is made possible through the funding made by Arthritis Australia and The Arthritis Movement.

Award summary
08 Jessica Stanhope

Dr Jessica Stanhope awarded 2026 Project Grant

Harnessing green space exposure to improve outcomes for people with arthritis

Dr Jessica Stanhope awarded 2026 Project Grant

Dr Jessica Stanhope is an experienced epidemiologist and registered physiotherapist. Dr Stanhope is Chief Medical Scientist in the Rheumatology Unit at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and as Senior Research Fellow in the School of Public Health at The University of Adelaide. Her research focuses on how exposure to green spaces influences human health.

 Despite treatments, people living with arthritis continue to experience pain, poorer mental health and disability; hence new approaches are required to complement existing treatments. Research recently demonstrated that living within walking distance of a greenspace (e.g. park or nature reserve) reduces the risk of developing arthritis and propose that green space exposure may also improve outcomes for people living with arthritis. Dr Stanhope aims to estimate the effect of green space exposure on pain, mental health, disability, quality of life and disease activity for people with arthritis; and to examine factors affecting this relationship, as well as potential pathways (e.g. via physical activity or sleep patterns). The study will also determine how people with arthritis use green spaces, and the barriers and facilitators to use. Together, this evidence will be used to develop clinical and public health recommendations for increasing the use of green spaces that could improve health outcomes for people with arthritis. 

This award is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund.

Award summary

Dr Asolina Braun awarded 2026 Project Grant

Investigation of Citrullinated Bacterial Peptides as a New Source of Pro-inflammatory Antigens in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Dr Asolina Braun awarded 2026 Project Grant

Dr Asolina Braun is a trained biologist with a focus on immunology, Autoimmunity and T cell biology from Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Unit.

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the body mistakenly attacks its own joints. A group of modified protein fragments called citrullinated peptides are key targets of the misguided immune response in RA. The immune system wrongly sees these modified peptides as dangerous, spurring the production of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs). ACPAs not only serve as a disease marker but may have a beneficial role curtailing the spread of bacteria in the lung and mouth. Currently, we have a limited understanding of common ACPA targets and the parent proteins of the citrullinated peptides. We will address this knowledge gap in our project and investigate which citrullinated peptides are presented in inflamed tissues. Our research uses advanced technology (mass spectrometry-assisted immunopeptidomics) to identify citrullinated peptides in joint tissue, which likely contain ACPA targets. Although the body’s own proteins are suspected to be the main targets of ACPA, surprisingly we have recently found citrullinated peptide targets derived from bacteria in synovial tissue from two RA patients. These bacteria can be found in inflamed gums around the teeth.

We would like to follow up this preliminary finding by systematically comparing the presence and absence of citrullinated self and bacterial peptides across 20 synovial tissues from healthy donors and people suffering from rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis. We hope to find new clues about which bacterial and self-protein targets might spark ACPA production and how these are linked to the development of joint disease.
A better understanding of peptide targets which consistently elicit ACPA in RA patients as compared to healthy donors will help us design and develop better treatments to curb RA in people with ACPA.

This award is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund.

Award summary

Dr Jessica Day awarded 2026 Project Grant

MODIFI-IBM: Multimodal biomarker discovery and therapeutic profiling in inclusion body myositis

Dr Jessica Day awarded 2026 Project Grant

Dr Jessica Day from Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research is a rheumatologist, mid-career clinician-scientist and NHMRC Emerging Leadership 1 Fellow with internationally recognised expertise in myositis. She ranks in the top 0.17% of >32,000 myositis experts globally.

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most common acquired muscle disease in adults yet has no effective treatment. People with IBM progressively lose muscle strength, many develop swallowing problems, and most become wheelchair dependent. Trials in IBM continuously fail or generate inconclusive results, because outcome measures are insensitive, disease is heterogeneous, and there are no reliable biomarkers that show early biological response to therapy.

MODIFI-IBM takes a fundamentally different approach. We will evaluate new treatments by directly measuring changes in the diseased tissue itself (skeletal muscle), rather than relying solely on indirect or insensitive measures. We will combine advanced whole-body imaging, precision-guided muscle biopsies, and detailed laboratory analyses to generate a complete picture of how a treatment affects IBM.

By grounding therapeutic evaluation in direct measures of muscle pathology, MODIFI-IBM aims to deliver faster answers about whether a therapy works. This approach has the potential to transform IBM trials, shorten the path to effective treatments, and serve as a model for tackling other rare, high-burden diseases.

This award is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund

Award summary

Dr Wittaya Suwakulsiri awarded 2026 Grant-In-Aid

Dissecting Oral-Joint Immune Crosstalk in RA using Spatial and Single-Cell Transcriptomics to Improve Early Diagnosis, Intervention and Management

Dr Wittaya Suwakulsiri awarded 2026 Grant-In-Aid

Dr. Wittaya Suwakulsiri is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Functional Genomics and Statistics at the Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland, specialising in bioinformatics, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, and multi-omics integration in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

RA is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes painful joint inflammation, disability, and reduced quality of life. While modern treatments have improved outcomes, many patients still experience unpredictable disease flares that lead to irreversible joint damage. One of the biggest challenges is that we do not fully understand what triggers these flares, making it difficult to predict or prevent them. There is growing evidence that oral bacteria, particularly Porphyromonas gingivalis and Streptococcus species, may play a role in RA by activating the immune system and driving joint inflammation. Our recent studies using a highly sensitive technique called mass spectrometry to analyse proteins that the immune system sees in joint tissue surprisingly identified proteins derived from oral bacteria in RA patients. These proteins were citrullinated, which means the immune system was actively trying to control the bacteria and altered them. This alteration has been shown to occur in inflamed gums. RA-specific antibodies have been shown to recognise citrullinated proteins derived from these bacteria. Dr Suwakulsiri’s study will explore how these bacteria interact with the immune system in inflamed gums, to compare this to joint tissue and the blood, and how this might contribute to disease activity or flares. For patients, these advances would contribute simpler and safer monitoring, and the possibility of earlier and more targeted RA intervention.

This award is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund.

Award summary

Dr Eugenie MacFarlane awarded 2026 Grant-In-Aid

The efficacy of glucocorticoid antagonists in the treatment of post-traumatic osteoarthritis

Dr Eugenie MacFarlane awarded 2026 Grant-In-Aid

Dr Eugenie Macfarlane is a postdoctoral scientist and lecturer at the ANZAC Research Institute, The University of Sydney.

Despite its significant global impact of Osteoarthritis, existing therapies focus mainly on symptom/pain control or surgical replacement of the affected joint, mostly due to the limited understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. We have recently discovered that blocking the actions of the body’s own (‘endogenous’) glucocorticoid hormones slows the development of osteoarthritis in mice. This tells us that endogenous glucocorticoids contribute to the progression of osteoarthritic joint damage, including cartilage loss, bone thickening and inflammation. Importantly, we have also discovered that endogenous glucocorticoids increase the production of Hypoxia Inducible Factor-2α (HIF-2α) in cartilage, which activates cells in the joint’s outer lining to produce IL-1β, a cytokine known to stimulate inflammation. Our findings indicate that early inhibition of local endogenous glucocorticoid actions slows cartilage damage and osteoarthritis progression. This project will therefore investigate whether drugs that inhibit glucocorticoid and/or HIF-2α action early in the development of osteoarthritis can attenuate disease progression. Based on our preliminary data we expect that blocking endogenous glucocorticoid signalling will slow the progression of osteoarthritis in mice. This outcome could be used as a rational for clinical trials of glucocorticoid inhibitors in human osteoarthritis.

This award is made possible through the generous funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund.

Award summary

Dr Alana Dinsdale awarded 2026 Grant-In-Aid

The ECHO-A Project: Empowering Consumers and Health professionals for effective management of temporomandibular disorders in Australia

Dr Alana Dinsdale awarded 2026 Grant-In-Aid

Dr Alana Dinsdale is a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at The University of Queensland with over 12 years of experience focused on the management of Temporomandibular Disorders (TMDs). TMDs are common and debilitating musculoskeletal conditions that affect the jaw joint and surrounding structures. They can significantly impair eating, speaking and socialising leading to a reduced quality of life for people with living with the condition. Despite TMDs affecting approximately 1 in 10 people, TMDs are often misunderstood and poorly managed in the community due to the absence of clear, evidence-based informed care pathway. The ECHO-A project aims to improve the health outcomes associated with TMD by making it easier for patients to access timely information and support, and by facilitating health professionals use of best-practice management approaches.

The award is made possible through the funding made by the Australian Rheumatology Association Research Fund.

Award summary

Past grant recipients of the Arthritis Australia National Research Program

Click the links below for complete lists of past recipients, including projects and institutions.
We encourage all applicants who did not receive funding for their project, to continue to apply for Arthritis Australia funding should they wish to pursue research in the musculoskeletal area
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