# Association of Phenotypes and Genotype with Treatment Response in Psoriatic Arthritis

> **NIH NIH K23** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $163,358

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Candidate: Paras Karmacharya, MD MS is a Clinical Instructor at Vanderbilt in the Divisions of Rheumatology
& Immunology. He has a strong clinical background in rheumatology and an excellent scientific foundation in
epidemiological studies from his Master’s in Clinical and Translational Science and post-doctoral research
studies following clinical training. His long-term career plan is to become an independent clinical investigator
and a leader in pursuing patient-centered, pragmatic research in real-world psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients
and advancing personalized medicine in PsA. To achieve this goal, he will utilize his proposed research project
for hands-on training in advanced statistical methods, bioinformatics, and genetics.
Research Project: This proposal will study the association of clinical and genetic heterogeneity in PsA with
treatment response. Using two unique real-world PsA cohorts, Dr. Karmacharya will (1) Identify PsA
phenotypes and their association with treatment response in PsA, and (2) Identify PsA patients with a high
probability of responding to therapy and those with a low probability of responding to therapy in the EHR.
These aims are foundational to designing future pragmatic trials leveraging the EHR to more efficiently and
robustly develop personalized approaches to treatment.
Career Development: Dr. Karmacharya’s career development plan integrates formal coursework with
individual training from his mentors to (1) Enhance skills in advanced statistical methods, (2) Expand
proficiency in applying biomedical informatics techniques to large databases through mentored hands-on
training in Vanderbilt’s EHR, (3) Build foundational knowledge in genetics and through experiential learning to
apply analytic techniques to a genetic biobank, and (4) Develop expertise in building and managing a
prospective PsA cohort.
Environment: VUMC is the ideal environment to foster Dr. Karmacharya’s development as a leader in clinical
and translational research in PsA. His mentoring team includes experts in PsA (Ogdie/Ritchlin), advanced
statistical methods (Byrne/Chen/Ogdie), biomedical informatics (Byrne/Barnado), and genetics (Cox).
Additional institutional resources include the Synthetic Derivative (SD), a de-identified EHR with over 3.5
million subjects, and BioVU, a genetic biobank linked to the SD, and departmental support for his multicenter
PsA cohort. His mentors, Drs. Crofford and Ogdie, are internationally recognized in rheumatology and PsA with
successful track records of mentoring. With Vanderbilt’s institutional commitment to young investigators and
expertise in biomedical informatics and genetics, Dr. Karmacharya will successfully leverage his innovative
proposal for independent R01 funding.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10888391
- **Project number:** 5K23AR082990-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Paras Karmacharya
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $163,358
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-14 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10888391

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10888391, Association of Phenotypes and Genotype with Treatment Response in Psoriatic Arthritis (5K23AR082990-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10888391. Licensed CC0.

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