Portland, Ore. (June 11, 2020) — The National Psoriasis Foundation, NPF, in recognition of the critical need to closely monitor rapidly evolving COVID-19 data and advances, track relevant scientific and clinical research, and provide guidance to both health care providers and people living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis has formed the NPF COVID-19 Task Force.
Chaired by dermatologist Joel M. Gelfand, M.D., MSCE, FAAD and rheumatologist Christopher T. Ritchlin, M.D., M.P.H., the Task Force is comprised of experts from the NPF Medical Board and Scientific Advisory Committee, and advisors from specialty areas such as infectious diseases and epidemiology.
The group will serve as an expert resource and advisory committee for the NPF and focus on sharing educational information for providers, patients, and other stakeholders, identifying and responding to impacts on clinical practice, and developing multi-disciplinary expertise in COVID-19 basic science, epidemiology and clinical research.
“By establishing a COVID-19 Task Force we are able to collaborate with this expert team to support our community as new information about this coronavirus is uncovered,” said Stacie Bell, Ph.D., chief scientific and medical officer, NPF. “Our goal is to support both health care providers and people living with psoriatic disease by providing evidence-based information and guidance on how COVID-19 may impact the psoriatic disease community and how to best approach clinical care.”
One of the first actions the Task Force has taken is updating the preliminary COVID-19 recommendations issued by NPF medical and scientific leaders. In March, the NPF released “NPF Medical Board COVID-19 Recommendations for Patients with Psoriatic Disease” based on information available at that time. Since then more information has become available and the Task Force developed and released updated recommendations.
As data evolves, and current research and clinical knowledge develops, the Task Force will continue to release updated recommendations, as well as summations and publications providing critical insights and resources for the psoriatic disease community. To learn more about COVID-19 and psoriatic disease, and to access the most recent information provided by this Task Force please visit our resource center at: psoriasis.org/COVID-19-Resource-Center.
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