Pioneers & Progress in Pediatric Rheumatology: The 50th Anniversary

Hi, my name is Susan Shenoi and I'm a pediatric rheumatologist at Seattle Children's. I'm here at ACR 2026 with RheumNow.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of pediatric rheumatology as a subspecialty, and one of the first few sessions at the ACR for pediatrics was "Mastering the Art," where we had pioneers talk about progress over the last 50 years. We had four speakers at this session: Dr. Balua, Dr. Dan Lovell, Dr. Ross Petty, and Dr. Christy Sandborg.

My three key takeaways from this session were: how these early pioneers, in a time before diseases were known, biology was known, classification systems were known, recognized the importance of really having pediatric rheumatology as a separate subspecialty. And this really birthed our subspecialty with its own classification systems, the need for medications, etc. in our diseases.

My second takeaway was really understanding and recognizing that the Pediatric Research Equity Act in 2003 allowed the FDA to require the inclusion of children in studies and clinical trials. And we heard Dr. Dan Lovell talk about how transformational Enbrel was, and the fact that it became available to children because of this law.

And my last key takeaway, probably the most important, is really the community that has evolved around pediatric rheumatologists and pediatric providers. But not just that — it is the fact that we have grown and built organizations that have been transformational, such as the PRCSG and CARRA, that have collaborated across borders and continents to really move the field forward. And not only have we done that, we've also included patient voices as collaborative and research partners.

So it's amazing to see where the field has taken us, and I hope that you enjoy your ACR 2026.