Lupus Research

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Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body. We’ll talk to David Juliano, Outreach Development for the Arizona chapter for the Lupus Foundation of America, about their outreach efforts in Arizona.

José Cárdenas: Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and tissue damge to the body's organ system. The Lupus Foundation of America that focuses on the ongoing needs of people affected by the disease in our state. Joining me tonight is David Juliano, outreach development for the Arizona chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America. Welcome to "Horizonte." You've been in Arizona for some time, but this is the first time in four years that the foundation itself has had a presence. Tell us about that.

David Juliano: Correct. We have a branch out of Lupus Foundation of America in Washington, D.C., and we opened an office just this last June, so it's been a little over 90 days. The goal is two-fold. One is to bring some awareness of lupus to the general public but also be an information conduit for those who have lupus in the state of what's going on with research, what's new and what's breaking regarding making your life a little bit more palatable, improving the quality of life for those that have lupus.

José Cárdenas: How widespread is the disease?

David Juliano: Well, in America, over 1.5 million have lupus. If I have my numbers correct, if you added up multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy and sickle cell and HIV and AIDS, you would not have the number of people that have lupus.

José Cárdenas: It has a particularly negative impact in terms of the members on women.

David Juliano: Out of ten people that have lupus, typically nine will be female. Of the females, three to four will be women of color.

José Cárdenas: Part of what you're doing is outreach to the community, and I know you've got some events planned. Tell us a little about that.

David Juliano: Well, a couple things. We just had a motorcycle ride that was a third-party event. A gentleman whose mother passed away from lupus has developed a ride called The Linda. His mom's name was Linda. So he gets together many motorcycle clubs and they do a ride. It's a fundraising event coming up on October 12th there is an event at martini ranch in Scottsdale. One of the members of a band whose mother-in-law has lupus will be playing. The door cover is $10 per person, and that money is going to come directly to us to help us in our funding needs for Research and Development. And the other big event is -- even though it's five months off, that seems like a long ways but, when you're putting together something this large, we're under the gun. That's the Walk for Lupus Now. It's a one-mile walk. It will be on February 23rd, and we're going to hold it over at the Chaparral Park. There's the little lake there on Chaparral and Hayden Road, the man-made lake. One lap around that is a mile. We'll be doing that at dusk, and I'm still looking for many people to help volunteer with different chair positions to pull off this event.

José Cárdenas: We had your website address on the screen. People can go there to get information about volunteering?

David Juliano: Absolutely.

José Cárdenas: As I understand it, you also have an educational session coming up in April.

David Juliano: Right. Once the walk is complete, then for the next year's cycle after the walk, we will plan educational seminars. I don't have a date locked in for April, but it will be in the first half of April. And the purpose of these educational seminars or symposiums, you can call them, is to have a lupus physician in attendance. He or she will speak for an hour or so and also take questions from those attending. All these seminars are going to be free of charge, and my April one, I have arranged -- I'm going to use my electronics background from old radio and TV days, and this will be in Spanish as well as English.

José Cárdenas: So you've got a bilingual session coming up.

David Juliano: Absolutely.

José Cárdenas: Best of luck on that event and all the others you told us about tonight. Thanks for joining us on "Horizonte."

David Juliano: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

José Cárdenas: That's our show for this Thursday evening. From all of us here at "Horizonte," I'm José Cardenas. Have a good night.




David Juliano:Outreach Development, Arizona chapter for the Lupus Foundation of America;

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