Ela Chintagunta

Council Member · Young Patients’ Autoimmune Research and Empower Alliance (YP AREA)

Ela Chintagunta is a patient partner, researcher, and advocate whose work focuses on making pediatric and adolescent rheumatology research more accessible, equitable, and driven by the priorities of young people living with autoimmune conditions. As a dual Biology and Chemistry graduate from Grinnell College and recipient of the 2023 Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Outstanding Patient/Caregiver Service Award and the 2020 Arthritis Foundation’s Emerging Leader in Advocacy Award, she bridges lived experience with scientific training to transform how clinicians and researchers partner with youth and families. Since 2021, Ela has served as a Patient Partner with CARRA, collaborating on multi institutional studies to identify patient centered priorities, shape study design, and review grants for meaningful and feasible engagement of patients and caregivers. She is a Council Mentor with the Young Patients Autoimmune Research and Empowerment Alliance (YP AREA), where she mentors new patient partners, co creates tools to make research understandable for adolescents and young adults, and leads independent projects on topics such as needle fear, dissemination strategies, and creating safe spaces for young adult partners in research. Ela has contributed to peer reviewed and in progress manuscripts on youth driven research partnerships and adolescents’ and young adults’ preferences for engaging, understandable, and socially relevant health research findings. Grounded in her own experiences as a young adult with a rheumatic condition, Ela’s work centers on the belief that youth are not just study participants but co creators of better science and better care. Through her advocacy with the Arthritis Foundation, service on national advisory councils, and mentorship of emerging youth leaders, she continues to build infrastructures where disabled and chronically ill young people can lead research, policy, and clinical conversations about their futures.

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