Dr. Clifton Bingham, professor of medicine, and Victoria ‘Vicky’ Ruffing, director of nursing and patient education, both in the Division of Rheumatology, were honored as the 2023 Medical Champions through the Arthritis Foundation for their dedication to pursuing a cure for America’s number one cause of disability while championing the fight to conquer arthritis with innovative research, groundbreaking treatments and education.
For more than 15 years, a major focus of Dr. Bingham’s research has been better understanding the patient’s perspective of their disease experience and life impact; identifying and developing measures to reflect these aspects of health-related quality of life; piloting and validating patient-reported outcome measures in arthritis and integrating this information into routine clinical care and clinical trials. He was a member of the international group that revised the classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis, permitting the diagnosis of earlier disease to facilitate treatment with disease modifying agents and for recent updated vaccination guidelines for rheumatic diseases.
Vicky, RN-BC, has been involved in numerous clinical trials for biological and nonbiological therapies in arthritis. Her role in the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center has allowed her to develop numerous educational initiatives for patients, staff, faculty and fellows. These initiatives include the development of written and visual medical education resources for all patients with rheumatic diseases and lectures for fellows on educating patients and discussing the risks and benefits of medications. She has also developed written protocols for biologic use.
Dr. Bingham and Vicky were honored at the Commitment to a Cure Gala in Baltimore on November 2, 2023.
