Arthritis Foundation Leadership
L. Brunson White,
National Chair
The Arthritis Foundation appointed L. Brunson White as the organization’s new national chair, effective November 18, 2006. He will play a vital role in leading the only national, nonprofit health agency helping 46 million Americans with arthritis take greater control of the nation’s leading cause of disability.
White is a long-standing volunteer with the Arthritis Foundation. Prior to his appointment as chairman, he served as a National Trustee and Executive Committee Member. He also served as a board member with the Alabama Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation for eight years, including two years as Chair (1997-98). White has received multiple awards from the Arthritis Foundation in recognition of his service including the Joseph E. Suddeth Award as the outstanding volunteer for the state of Alabama (1994); the national volunteer citation (1995); and the volunteer leadership award (1997).
A native of Birmingham, L. Brunson White attended the University of Alabama where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce and Business Administration in 1979. Professionally, White serves as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Energen Corporation. In this capacity, he is responsible for all information technology for the company, as well as for its subsidiaries Energen Resources and Alagasco.
White also has served in several industry capacities including co-chairing the American Gas Association/Edison Electric Institute Technology Advisory Council. He is a member of the Class of 2000 of Leadership Birmingham and Class XV of Leadership Alabama.
John H. Klippel, MD,
President and Chief Executive Officer
John Howard Klippel, M.D. is president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation, the largest voluntary health organization serving the 46 million Americans living with the nation’s number-one cause of disability. Dr. Klippel has held the position since October, 2003.
Under his leadership, the Arthritis Foundation has continued to grow in national prominence as well as in provision of services to local communities. There are currently more than 150 local offices nationwide.
Dr. Klippel is currently spearheading an ambitious strategic plan that will lead the Arthritis Foundation through the most significant change in its 60-year history. The plan will greatly improve the organization’s efficiency while ensuring continued investment in research, public policy, and the provision of evidence-based public health programs and services in communities throughout the nation.
Dr. Klippel joined the Arthritis Foundation in September, 1999, as Medical Director and was the principal liaison for the organization for medical research and professional affairs with responsibility for oversight of the Foundation’s research programs.
Prior to joining the Arthritis Foundation, Dr. Klippel served as Clinical Director of the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). During his professional career at the National Institutes of Health, he authored or co-authored 190 peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters related to arthritis. He has served as editor of the Primer on the Rheumatic Diseases and the textbook Rheumatology.
Dr. Klippel earned a B.A. magna cum laude in chemistry and mathematics at Bowling Green State University and an M.D. at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed internship and residency training in internal medicine at the Yale-New Haven Hospital and fellowship training in rheumatology at the National Institutes of Health and the University of California at San Diego. Dr. Klippel is a member of several academic honor societies including Alpha Omega Alpha, Phi Eta Sigma, and Omicron Delta Kappa and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Rheumatology. His honors and awards include the Borden Research Award, the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Award, and the Distinguished Clinical Teacher and Directors Award from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Klippel resides in Atlanta with his wife Sally who is the Managing Director of the National Capital Club Managers Association. They enjoy golf, tennis, collecting decoys, walking on the beach, and their Portuguese water dog Reilly.
Roberta Byrum,
Chief Operating Officer
Roberta K. Byrum, CPA, is the chief operating officer of the Arthritis Foundation – the nation’s only national, nonprofit health agency working on behalf of the 46 million Americans living with arthritis.
As COO, Ms. Byrum is accountable for all aspects of the daily operations of the Arthritis Foundation National Office headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to hands-on management of the national office, Ms. Byrum works closely with the Foundation’s 46 local chapter presidents who oversee the organization’s 150 service points around the country.
Ms. Byrum’s extensive experience in financial and business management serve her well in her pivotal role in advancing organizational structure and efficiency. She has assumed staff leadership in the implementation of the Arthritis Foundation’s Vision 2010, the organization’s multi-year strategic initiative aimed at streamlining operations to make the Foundation a more mission effective organization.
Before joining the Arthritis Foundation, Ms. Byrum served as the assistant vice president for finance at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Prior to joining Georgia State, she served as vice president and chief financial officer for the University of Central Florida Foundation in Orlando. She also held the position of vice president in the Capital Markets Group of Bank of America and Audit Manager at Deloitte & Touche in New York City and Chicago.
Ms. Byrum has a degree in business administration from Auburn University and an MBA from the Executive MBA program at the University of Central Florida. She also completed the Management and Leadership in Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her professional affiliations include: the American Institute of CPAs and the Georgia Society of CPAs.
A resident of Atlanta, Ms. Byrum and her husband, David, are active members of the community. In addition to volunteering for the Arthritis Foundation and other civic organizations, they enjoy spending time attending museums and theatre and traveling. While she truly appreciates her career, professional accomplishments and the respect of her peers, Ms. Byrum finds the greatest reward is spending quality time with her daughter and son.
Patience Hayock White, MD, MA,
Chief Public Health Officer
Patience White, M.D., is the chief public health officer of the Arthritis Foundation. In addition to her work at the national office of the Arthritis Foundation, she also is a professor of medicine and pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Before assuming her current position at the Arthritis Foundation in 2004, she served as the director of the Division of Adult Rheumatology and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and director of Pediatric Rheumatology and the Adolescent Employment Readiness Center at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. She has been a practicing rheumatologist caring for both adults and children with rheumatic diseases for over 25 years.
Dr. White has been a consultant for the President’s Task Force for Employment of People with Disabilities, a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy fellow on the Senate Finance Committee and chairman of the National Arthritis Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administrations Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. She was also involved with the development of the National Arthritis Action Plan. Her honors and awards include the Newsweek/CBS National American Achievement Award, the State of Maryland’s Healthcare Professional of the Year Award, Woman of Valor Award from B’nai Brith Women, and the Outstanding Service award from the George Washington University.
In addition to Dr. White’s professional and academic accomplishments, she has authored numerous books and articles in such publications as the New England Journal of Medicine and Pediatrics. Much of her published work deals with the long term outcome of youth with disabilities as they move into the world of work and adult medical care.
Dr. White received a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, a master of science degree from Dartmouth Medical School, a doctor of medicine degree from Harvard Medical School, and a master’s in Education from George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, a teaching fellowship in rheumatology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a pediatric rheumatology fellowship at Northwick Park Post Graduate Institute in London, England.
John Hardin, M.D.,
Chief Scientific Officer
John Hardin, M.D., serves as the Chief Science Officer of the Arthritis Foundation. In this capacity, Dr. Hardin acts as the lead scientific reviewer and spokesperson on research, medical studies and the treatment of arthritis and related diseases.
The Arthritis Foundation has played an important role in Dr. Hardin’s career. In 1984, Dr. Hardin, in conjunction with his collaborators Drs. Joan Steitz and Michael Lerner, received the Arthritis Foundation’s first Lee Howley Prize for outstanding research. The team’s research served as a milestone in the understanding of how genetic information is translated into the proteins that make up all of the cells of the body.
Dr. Hardin’s subsequent work showed that the immune system of patients with lupus responds to these Sm and U1-RNP particles as though they were foreign pathogens. This work set the stage for current work that seeks to understand why the immune system produces specific autoantibodies in the different diseases that cause arthritis. Hardin remains active in research and is currently studying how factors such as vitamin D regulate the immune system and thereby help protect against arthritis.
Dr. Hardin has served the Arthritis Foundation in multiple roles over the years including Chair of the Research Committee, participation on peer review study sections, and as a member of the New York Chapter Board of Directors.
He has a distinguished career in rheumatology, biomedical research, and medical administration. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia, and received postdoctoral training at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY, the National Institutes of Health, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was a member of the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine (1976-1991), Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Georgia (1991-2000), and most recently Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and a Consultant to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Bethesda, MD. He has made numerous contributions to autoimmunity research, and published approximately 120 original articles, book chapters, and reviews.
Please contact us if you have an media inquiries.
