American College of Rheumatology recognizes UB professor with one of its highest honors

BUFFALO, N. Y. — The American College of Rheumatology has recognized James N. Jarvis, MD, clinical professor of pediatrics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, as a Master, one of the highest honors the organization bestows.

The ACR is the national organization committed to improving the care of patients with rheumatic disease and advancing the specialty of rheumatology.

The designation of Master is conferred on members who are age 65 or older by Oct. 1 of the year in which they are nominated and have made outstanding contributions to the ACR and the field of rheumatology through scholarly achievement and/or service to their patients, students and the profession.

A Fellow of the ACR since 1985, Jarvis also is an elected member of the American Association of Immunologists, the American Society for Pediatric Research and the American Pediatric Society.

For four decades, he has been conducting research on pediatric rheumatic diseases, such as juvenile idiopathic (juvenile rheumatoid) arthritis, inflammatory muscle disease and systemic lupus.

Jarvis, who is of Akwesasne Mohawk ancestry and who works on American Indian and Alaska native child health issues, has chaired the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Native American Child Health.

He conducts research at UB’s Clinical and Translational Research Center focused, in part, on why rheumatic diseases are so common and severe in indigenous American children, especially the role of epigenetic factors from historical traumas and cultural dislocation that may affect how these diseases are expressed in indigenous children. Jarvis was principal investigator on a $1.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to study biomarkers in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Prior to coming to UB, Jarvis was a member of the faculty at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and director of pediatric rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma/OU Children’s Physicians. From 2009 to 2011, he held an endowed chair in pediatrics, supported by the Oklahoma chapter of the Children’s Medical Research Institute/Arthritis Foundation.

He has been an American College of Rheumatology/Immunex visiting professor at numerous institutions, including Meharry Medical College, the University of Arizona and the Henry Ford Hospital.

A UB faculty member since 2012, Jarvis has served as Division Chief of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics in the Jacobs School, and in UBMD Pediatrics and the John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.

Jarvis’ research has been funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, both of the NIH, and numerous private foundations, including the Arthritis Foundation and the Rheumatology Research Foundation.

Jarvis is a resident of Buffalo.