The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) is proud to announce the winners of the 2026 CARRA Community Awards.
The awards, which were presented at CARRA’s Annual Scientific Meeting this month, honor people who have made outstanding achievements in advancing pediatric rheumatology research and played important roles in the CARRA community. This year’s winners have shown tremendous dedication to CARRA’s mission to unite the pediatric rheumatology community to drive research and transform the lives of children with rheumatic diseases.
“Our Community Awards recognize individuals who exemplify collaboration, leadership, and an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of children with rheumatic diseases,” said Stacy Ardoin, MD, CARRA President. “We are delighted to celebrate their accomplishments, and we are truly grateful for their contributions to pediatric rheumatology research and to our CARRA community.”
This year, CARRA introduced two new award categories – the Outstanding Fellow Award and the Excellence in Mentorship Award. During the Annual Scientific Meeting, CARRA launched an initiative called Mentors Who Made Us to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of pediatric rheumatology. Mentors Who Made Us celebrates this golden anniversary through physician-led tributes to their mentors, while helping ensure the next generation of physicians receives the same encouragement, wisdom, and opportunity.
Meet the 2026 CARRA Community Award Winners
Outstanding Early Investigator Award
Anna E. Patrick, MD, PhD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Dr. Patrick, who is an assistant professor of Pediatric Rheumatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has rapidly distinguished herself as an innovative physician-scientist whose work bridges basic immunology, precision medicine, and data science to advance the understanding of pediatric rheumatic diseases. Her research has focused on uncovering the mechanisms that drive pathogenic immune cell development and identifying how rare genetic variants contribute to disease, helping lay the foundation for more precise and personalized therapies for children.
In addition to her outstanding scientific contributions, Dr. Patrick has become a highly valued leader within CARRA’s translational research community. Through her service and leadership, she has helped strengthen biosample-based research infrastructure, improve access to shared resources, and support early investigators through mentorship, collaboration, and innovative initiatives that foster career development and scholarly productivity.
Outstanding Workgroup Leader Award
Jennifer Woo, PhD, MPH, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, who leads CARRA’s Health Equity Research Workgroup
Since the creation of the Health Equity Research Workgroup in 2021, Dr. Woo has served as a foundational leader of this group. Through structured and engaging monthly meetings, journal discussions, and invited speakers, she has fostered a strong sense of community while encouraging thoughtful dialogue and collaboration across the network.
Under her leadership, the workgroup has translated ideas into meaningful scholarly work. One notable achievement is the Registry Representativeness project, which grew directly from workgroup discussions and was developed into a funded initiative examining representativeness within the CARRA Registry. Beyond her own workgroup, she has helped integrate equity principles across CARRA by organizing collaborative workshops to support the thoughtful incorporation of equity into research projects and initiatives.
The Kelly Mieszkalski Outstanding Registry Coordinator Award
Joanne Drew, MFA, CCRP, of Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Joanne Drew, Research Program Coordinator at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has played a central role in building one of the most successful CARRA Registry sites in the network. Through her leadership, the site has enrolled more than 600 participants into the CARRA Registry, ranking among the top enrolling centers, while maintaining outstanding data quality and biospecimen contributions.
Joanne has developed efficient recruitment strategies, leveraged electronic health record tools, and implemented workflows that enhance enrollment and longitudinal follow-up. She has generously shared these strategies with coordinators across the CARRA network, strengthening research participation across multiple sites. At the national level, she provided outstanding leadership as Chair of the CARRA Research Coordinator Network.
Outstanding Fellow Award
Brittney Newby, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
This award was created to recognize an active CARRA fellow who demonstrates exceptional commitment, engagement, and promise as a future leader in pediatric rheumatology. As a physician-scientist, Dr. Newby aims to integrate high-dimensional biological data,
genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and proteomics with clinical data to develop prognostic and predictive tools for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and juvenile spondyloarthritis (JSpA). She is committed to building an independent research program to improve care for children with pediatric rheumatic diseases. Dr. Newby received a CARRA-Arthritis Foundation Mentored Career Development Award for her research identifying multi-omic profiles for assessing and characterizing treatment response in enthesitis-related arthritis.
In addition to her outstanding research and clinical skills as a rheumatology fellow at CHOP, she has a passion for diversity and inclusion. She is a founding member of Providers of Pride at CHOP, a physician-led network aimed at increasing recruitment, retention, and representation of the LGBTQ+ physician workforce.
Excellence in Mentorship Award
Vidya Sivaraman, MD, of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University
Dr. Sivaraman, who is a pediatric rheumatologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University, and director of quality improvement in Rheumatology, was honored by CARRA for exemplifying what it means to be a dedicated and transformative mentor. Through her leadership in CARRA, particularly within the Chronic Childhood Vasculitis Workgroup, she has helped guide and support numerous fellows and early-career investigators as they develop their research interests, build collaborations, and grow into leaders in the field.
It is especially fitting that Dr. Sivaraman is the first recipient of this award, as she truly embodies the spirit of mentorship that this recognition was created to celebrate. As one nominator described, “With Vidya, it has never been a question of ‘why you,’ but rather ‘why not you.’ Her mentorship assumes potential and creates opportunities for others to grow, collaborate, and lead.”
Outstanding Patient/Caregiver Award
Suzanne Edison, MA, MFA, of Cure JM
Suzanne Edison, who is the mental health coordinator at Cure JM, has made extraordinary contributions to CARRA through more than a decade of dedicated engagement, particularly within the CARRA Mental Health Workgroup. Through her consistent participation, thoughtful perspectives as a caregiver, and collaborative spirit, she has helped shape discussions, generate new ideas, and support the development of impactful research initiatives.
Suzanne played a key role in advancing the first evidence-informed consensus guidance addressing mental health in pediatric rheumatology, work that has been endorsed by the American College of Rheumatology and published in Arthritis Care & Research. She has also helped translate research findings into educational programs, support initiatives, and resources that benefit patients, families, and clinicians.
Outstanding Patient/Caregiver Award
Anna Sutton, MPH, of University of Washington
Since becoming involved with CARRA in 2020, Anna Sutton has demonstrated exceptional dedication through meaningful participation in workgroups, advisory committees, and research initiatives across the organization. She has contributed to numerous studies and collaborative projects, bringing a thoughtful caregiver perspective while also applying her expertise in epidemiology and research methodology to strengthen patient-centered research.
Anna has played an important role in study development, patient and caregiver engagement, survey design, recruitment strategies, and the interpretation of findings for many CARRA-related projects. Beyond CARRA, she has also been a tireless advocate for children with juvenile arthritis and their families through national leadership, community engagement, and ongoing support for patient and caregiver communities.
Outstanding Service Award
Daniel B. Horton, MD, MSCE, FISPE, of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School & Rutgers School of Public Health
Dr. Horton, a pediatric rheumatologist and pharmacoepidemiologist, has been a dedicated member of CARRA since 2011. He helped establish the Fellows Section Leadership Committee, laying the foundation for what is now the CARRA Fellows Sub-Committee. Dr. Horton later served as co-leader of the JIA Inactive Disease Workgroup, where his leadership helped drive a highly productive research program that secured multiple grants, produced numerous presentations, and generated several influential peer-reviewed publications. From 2021 to 2025, Dr. Horton served as Vice Chair of the JIA Committee, where he launched the JIA Forum, an innovative platform that fosters collaboration, supports emerging research ideas, and encourages partnerships across the CARRA community. Dr. Horton was also a founding member of the Research and Leadership Development Forum.
One particularly impactful contribution that highlights Dr. Horton’s service is his pivotal ongoing role in linking the CARRA Registry data with the Komodo Claims database. This effort will create a novel and powerful data resource for the broader CARRA community. Through his leadership, mentorship, and collaborative spirit, Dr. Horton has made a lasting impact on CARRA.
President’s Award
Carol Wallace, MD, Professor Emeritus of University of Washington
Dr. Wallace, a founding member of CARRA who served on the Board of Directors for 10 years, was honored for her extraordinary commitment, high-impact research contributions, and tireless advocacy and work to improve the lives of children with pediatric rheumatic diseases.
For over four decades, she has demonstrated an intense focus on understanding the key questions in our field—from the natural history to the complications, flares, and outcomes, to developing the landmark criteria for JIA remission that is still used today. Dr. Wallace was PI of the first NIH-funded CARRA multicenter trial for initial treatment of JIA that led the way to so many more studies in CARRA. Her leadership as VP, President, and immediate Past President helped ensure CARRA’s early success and her NIH grant that led to the development of CARRA’s Consensus Treatment Plans is a cornerstone of the real-world research that we continue today.
Her wisdom, teaching skills, and compassion are venerated by the generations of pediatric rheumatologists she has trained, colleagues she has partnered with, and patients and families whom she has cared for.
President’s Award
Rae Yeung, MD, PhD, FRCPC, of University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Research Institute
Dr. Yeung is a Professor of Pediatrics, Immunology and Medical Science at the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist in Cell & Systems Biology at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Research Institute, as well as Scientific Director at SickKids Biobank. She was honored with the President’s Award in appreciation for the tremendous impact she has had on CARRA, especially her leadership in shaping and advancing the biobank.
Dr. Yeung has helped move the field of pediatric rheumatology toward a more precise, biology-informed approach that brings together biomarkers, genomics, and clinical data to better understand disease course and treatment response. Through her leadership in studies like STOP-JIA and other CARRA initiatives, she has shown how thoughtfully integrating registries with biospecimens can deepen our understanding in meaningful ways.
The CARRA biobank is a clear reflection of her vision. It has created an essential bridge between clinical care and translational research and will continue to support discovery for years to come. Her efforts have laid the groundwork for ongoing and future research across our field and have enabled so many in the pediatric rheumatology community to pursue important questions.
CARRA would like to thank all of this year’s winners (and the many outstanding nominees) for their commitment to pediatric rheumatology research and to our CARRA community. Stay tuned for next year’s award nominations!