There was Kastner and Seldin and Amos
Before they became very famous
Ryk Ward was insistent
PKG was persistent
As we nurtured a plan to sustain us
The hurdles were high and well stacked
NIH, so it seemed, the funds lacked
Until Criswell, aglow
Brought the AF in tow
And that was the birth of NARAC
A consortium is a most curious beast
Where friendship and finance provide yeast
With an action sporadic
Frustrating to dramatic
The results could be famine or feast
To the challenge of sib pairs impervious
We thought that some linkage would serve us
But, each day in the shower:
I thought "Do we have power?
Are Susana and Katz getting nervous?"
And, indeed, replications were few
On 18q we continued to chew
With chi squares so puny
We might well be loony
To keep pushing this line in review
As advisors we had many high rollers,
Like Rich, and Daly and Holers
They said "Just switch!
From microsatellites to SNPs;
For linkage, turn every stone over"
We moved to Illumina Linkage IV
With calculations and imputations galore
Remmers and Plenge
Took us straight to the end
To the glorious ID of STAT4
Now, in RA genetics we're leading
With new friends and colleagues from Sweden
No need to slog
We have Klareskog!
New concepts and cohorts to sweeten
And so, on to biology we go
The power of genetics to show
No longer in dark forest
With such a rich harvest
New discoveries, and new friendships, will flow