The Rheumatology Research Foundation has appointed S. Louis Bridges Jr., MD, PhD, director of the UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, to serve as vice president for a two-year term. Bridges serves alongside the new Foundation president, Abby Abelson, M., chair of the Department of Rheumatology and Immunologic Disease at the Cleveland Clinic. The Rheumatology Research Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the United States.

Bridges will serve to support the foundation's mission of funding research and advancing treatment of rheumatology. He has served in various capacities within the organization, most recently as representative of the American College of Rheumatology, where he chaired the Committee on Research and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation.