NPF-Funded Research

Project Summary:

Psoriatic arthritis affects people differently. At present, doctors cannot predict which patients will develop rapid joint damage and loss of function, and which will remain stable for many years. PsAHEAD addresses this gap by testing whether early warning signs from clinical data, blood tests and imaging data can identify patients at risk of joint damage years later in life. This project will help doctors to identify high-risk patients in order to personalize monitoring and treatment strategies.

How will your project help improve the lives of the 125 million affected by psoriatic disease?

Psoriatic arthritis affects people very differently, but for many it can cause permanent joint damage, pain, loss of mobility and serious limitations at work and in everyday life. For doctors and patients, a key problem is that we still cannot reliably tell who is most at risk of worsening joint damage and who is likely to remain more stable over time. The PsAHEAD study is designed to change this. In one coordinated project, it brings together types of information that are usually studied separately: detailed clinical evaluations, blood-based markers and advanced imaging of the joints. By combining these data, PsAHEAD aims to uncover clear patterns that are linked to how the disease changes and progresses over the years. Using these insights, PsAHEAD seeks to build practical tools that indicate which patients are at higher or lower risk of future joint damage. This will help rheumatologists focus closer monitoring and earlier, more intensive treatment on those who need it most, while reducing unnecessary treatment in those at lower risk. Ultimately, PsAHEAD supports more personalized care in psoriatic arthritis to help people maintain their quality of life.

Why is psoriatic disease research important to you, personally? What role will this award play in your research efforts or career development?

Psoriatic arthritis research matters to me because, in my clinical work, I see every day how differently this disease affects individual people. Some can manage their symptoms with standard treatments and maintain a fairly stable disease, while others experience worsening joint damage over time even after trying several therapies. Hence, we need care that is tailored to the individual – the right treatment for the right person at the right moment. This is why my research focuses on understanding the biological and clinical differences between people living with psoriatic arthritis and turning those insights into more personalized care. With PsAHEAD, I want to take the next step: to understand and predict how the disease will progress in the long term, so we can act earlier to prevent damage rather than reacting after it has occurred. This award gives me the chance to lead a multidisciplinary project that connects information from the clinic with laboratory data, imaging of the joints and advanced data analysis. Through this, we aim to guide real world decisions in the clinic. My long term ambition is to build a research program that helps shift psoriatic arthritis care toward truly personalized medicine. In that future, doctors would use a person’s individual disease biology and risk profile to decide how closely to monitor them and which treatments to offer, with the aim of preventing damage and preserving quality of life. Support from the National Psoriasis Foundation is an important step toward making that future a reality.

Researcher Profile:

Dr. Juliëtte Pouw, MD, PhD, is a rheumatology resident and postdoctoral researcher at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. She has been involved in national and international psoriatic arthritis research since 2018. Her research focuses on psoriatic arthritis, with a particular interest in personalized medicine. Her work combines clinical research with translational immunology to improve our understanding the biological and clinical differences between people living with psoriatic arthritis and turning those insights into more personalized care.