Our History: It Started With a Conversation
AiArthritis began with one "mystery patient" searching for answers.
In 2007, Tiffany Westrich-Robertson was experiencing severe fatigue, ongoing fevers, and pain spreading throughout her body. Her bloodwork and X-rays were normal, and her symptoms did not fit neatly into one diagnosis.
She was first diagnosed with Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease (UCTD)—meaning doctors knew something was happening, but her symptoms did not yet point clearly to one disease. As she became much worse, a second rheumatologist diagnosed her with seronegative (no positive blood work) Rheumatoid Arthritis and started treatment.
The experience left Tiffany with questions familiar to many people in our community:
Why was it so difficult to figure out what was wrong? Were other patients experiencing this too?
Those questions helped start AiArthritis—but not because one person had all the answers.
It happened because patients started talking to each other.
The Conversations That Changed Everything
In 2009, Tiffany created an arthritis awareness campaign called "Buckle Me Up!" The bracelet was designed to help people understand that inflammatory arthritis can be part of a complex, full-body autoimmune or autoinflammatory disease—not the same as the more familiar "wear and tear" arthritis.
When someone ordered a bracelet, Tiffany didn't just mail it.
She started a conversation.
She shared her experience and asked about theirs.
Soon, people across the United States and around the world were sharing experiences with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Lupus, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Sjögren's Disease, Still's Disease, Juvenile Arthritis, and more.
Some had been misdiagnosed or re-diagnosed. Some had multiple diagnoses. Others were still searching for answers.
As those conversations grew from emails into online groups and social media, something important happened:
Our First Big "Ah-Ha" Moment
Despite having different diagnoses, people kept describing many of the same symptoms, challenges, and experiences.
What if, instead of looking only at individual disease names, we also looked at what these diseases—and the people living with them—had in common?
There are more than 100 autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. Within that larger group, we recognized a smaller group that also includes inflammatory arthritis as a major feature. We found the term "autoimmune arthritis" in published research dating back to the early 1980s and began using AiArthritis—with "Ai" representing autoimmune and autoinflammatory—to describe this group.
It created a home for people whose diagnosis might change, who have more than one diagnosis, or who are still searching for answers.
Tiffany's own experience would become an example. In 2013, her diagnosis changed again—from Rheumatoid Arthritis to non-radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis. The disease name changed, but she was still under the AiArthritis disease umbrella.
Looking at these diseases together also gave us an opportunity to identify shared symptoms and experiences that could potentially help people recognize what is happening sooner and shorten the long road to diagnosis.
But that wasn't the only thing we discovered.
We Were Doing More Than Sharing Stories
One person would describe an experience. Someone else would say, "That happened to me too."
Then another.
Patterns began to appear.
Through these conversations, patients were learning from each other while also helping us identify unmet needs, gaps in education and care, and ideas for solutions.
We didn't have today's language for it yet, but we were doing something that would become fundamental to AiArthritis: gathering and analyzing lived experience data and then turning it into real-world impact.
Lived experience data is information people share about what it is actually like to live with a disease. By listening to those experiences and identifying common themes, we can better understand what people need—and use what we learn to help develop solutions.
That became the foundation of AiArthritis.
In 2011, those conversations officially became a nonprofit organization, co-founded by patients Tiffany Westrich-Robertson, Tami Caskey Brown, and Amanda John. Kelly Conway joined the leadership team in 2013 as our programs expanded. And the process that built the organization became the process behind our work.
Patients help identify the problems and ideas for solutions. Then, depending on the issue, we bring in researchers, healthcare professionals, policymakers, industry representatives, and other experts as advisors to help us turn those ideas into resources, tools, guidance, programs, and action.
15 Years Later, We Still Work the Same Way
AiArthritis has grown significantly since those first conversations.
Our process has not changed.
We listen and learn from one another. We identify patterns and unmet needs. We connect the dots. We co-create solutions. Then we put what we learn to work.
Today, that process has resulted in hundreds of patient-informed resources, tools, guidance, and programs across education, advocacy, and research.
Some help people better understand symptoms and navigate healthcare conversations. Others address gaps in research, treatment access, public policy, or patient education.
Different issue. Same process.
Even the dots in our logo trace back to the beads of the original "Buckle Me Up!" bracelet. They represent people coming together, creating impact, and ultimately creating change.
That's why "connecting the dots" isn't just part of our history.
It's still how we work.
2026: Our Next Chapter Needs More Voices
In 2026, AiArthritis celebrates 15 years as a nonprofit organization.
What started with one mystery patient, a bracelet, and peer-to-peer conversations has grown into a global, patient-led organization with hundreds of resources, tools, guidance, and programs. We have also reached another major milestone: AiArthritis has grown into a million-dollar organization.
Now we're preparing to significantly scale our work over the next five years so we can impact thousands more lives worldwide.
But making AiArthritis bigger means something very specific:
We need to make the conversation bigger.
The model that built AiArthritis still depends on people affected by these diseases sharing what they experience, learning from one another, helping us identify the next "ah-ha" moments, and co-creating what comes next.
If you live with one of our diseases, care for someone who does, or are still searching for a diagnosis, your experience matters here.
You don't need to be an expert.
You are the expert in your own experience.
Learn from others. Share what you're experiencing. Help us connect the dots.
One conversation started AiArthritis. Thousands more can shape what comes next.
