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Division Faculty Named Best Doctors in America

Twelve of our faculty members were included on the 2017-2018 Best Doctors in America List. The list recognizes 350 UAB physicians in 39 specialties and 179 subspecialties who are among the top 4 percent of clinicians in the United States, as voted by their peers. Best Doctors is an independent, knowledge-based medical referral service whose surveys ask peer physicians, “If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty or a related specialty, to whom would you refer them?” Rheumatology faculty on the list include: Angelo Gaffo,MD, MSPH; Archana Jain, MD; David M. Spalding, MD; Jasvinder Singh, MD, MPH; Jeffrey R. Curtis, MD, MPH; Kenneth G. Saag, MD, MSc; Laura B. Hughes, MD, MSPH; Maria I. Danila, MD, MSc, MSPH; Robert P. Kimberly, MD; S. Louis Bridges, Jr., MD, PhD; Harry Schroeder, MD, PhD (Allergy Immunology) and Sarah Morgan MD, MS, RD, FADA, FACP, CCD (Internal Medicine). Read more here.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

This symposium will consist of nine sessions presenting updates on the most recent developments in the diagnosis and treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and their relevance to patient care. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with a nationally and internationally renowned group of rheumatology and dermatology faculty.

UAB Rheumatology Ranks Among Nation's Best

UAB Rheumatology ranks No. 10 in U.S. News & World Report’s 20172018 Best Hospitals list, one of the ten UAB Medicine specialties that appear on this year’s list.

Faculty Spotlight: Kenneth Saag

• NIH awards 5-year, $6.5M grant to Center of Research Translation for gout studies
• New drug shown to lower risk if fractures in women with osteoporosis
• Saag co-authors gout guidelines article in Nature Reviews Rheumatology
• President of the National Otsoporosis Foundation Board of Trustees

ACR Honors Two UAB Faculty at 2017 Annual Session

The American College of Rheumatology, at its annual meeting held in November, recognized two faculty members at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with prestigious designations for their contributions in the field of rheumatology.

Singh Helps Develop New Guidelines for Perioperative Management of Anti-Rheumatic Medication

In collaboration with the American College of Rheumatology and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, UAB Medicine’s Jasvinder Singh, MD, developed evidencebased guidelines for the perioperative management of antirheumatic drug therapy for adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondyloarthritis (SpA), and those undergoing elective total hip or total knee arthroplasty.

Bridges Featured as Guest Editor in Rheumatic Disease Clinics

The August 2017 issue of Rheumatic Disease Clinics — published as Genomics in Rheumatic Diseases — featured S. Louis Bridges Jr., MD, PhD, and Carl Langefeld, PhD, as guest editors.

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Archived Newsletters

Spring 2018 Division Newsletter

Winter 2018 Division Newsletter

Spring 2017 Division Newsletter

Winter 2016 Division Newsletter

Summer 2016 Division Newsletter

Spring 2016 Division Newsletter

Winter 2015 Division Newsletter

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• BioMark real-time PCR result analysis software: This software analyzes the raw data and gives you amplification curves, color-coded heat maps and Ct values. To download, go to https://www.fluidigm.com/software  and select BioMark & EP1 Software-Digital PCR Analysis. Click “download” and install the software. The Manual for setting up BioMark real-time PCR assays and analyzing data using this software are at https://www.fluidigm.com/documents. Select Real-Time PCR Analysis User Guide
• Singular Analysis Software. This is a free to download statistical analysis software for the analtsis of  Ct data derived from  the BioMark Real-Time PCR Analysis software. Singular is established on the “R” system. To use Singular, you will need to install “R” software. First, follow instructions in the User Guide for Singular, entitled Singular Analysis Toolset 3.5 Practice Sets Instructions at https://www.fluidigm.com/documents. Then, install the Singular Analysis Toolset from the Fluidigm website at https://www.fluidigm.com/software
• ClustVis: a web tool for visualizing clustering of multivariate data (BETA) (http://biit.cs.ut.ee/clustvis/). This is an online tool to enable users to directly upload their own data and create Principal Component Analysis (PCA) plots and heatmaps. For details, consult: Metsalu, Tauno and Vilo, Jaak. Clustvis: a web tool for visualizing clustering of multivariate data using Principal Component Analysis and heatmap. Nucleic Acids Research, 43(W1):W566–W570, 2015. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkv468

Jasvinder A. Singh, MD, MPH has been named recipient of the 2016 ACR Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award. This is awarded to a young physician scientist, age 45 or younger, who has made outstanding and promising independent contributions to basic or clinical research in the field of rheumatology. Dr. Singh will be honored at the ACR Annual Session in Washington, DC in November. The UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology will also honor him at the UAB Reception at the ACR meeting on Monday, November 14, 2016 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Washington, DC

John D. Mountz, MD, PhD has been named recipient of the 2016 ACR Distinguished Basic Investigator Award, a prestigious, highly competitive awards by the American College of Rheumatology. The Distinguished Basic Investigator Award is awarded to a basic scientist making outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology. Dr. Mountz will be honored at the ACR Annual Session in Washington, DC in November. The UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology will also honor him at the UAB Reception at the ACR meeting on Monday, November 14, 2016 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Washington, DC

S. Louis Bridges, MD, PhD presents the Cochrane Award to Maria Trojanowska, PhD and son, Martin Trojanowski, MD

The John and Margaret Cochrane Lectureship was established in 1981 by Mr. and Mrs. John T. Cochrane, Jr., of Mobile, Alabama. The lecture series sponsors visits to UAB by scientists noted for their contributions to medical research. On Thursday, June 16, 2016, Maria Trojanowska, PhD, of Boston University Division of Rheumatology delivered the 20th John and Margaret Cochrane Endowed Lecture at UAB Rheumatology Grand Rounds (RGR). Dr. Trojanowska is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Arthritis Center at Boston University School of Medicine. Her research is aimed at understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate ECM synthesis in healthy tissues and in pathological conditions such as fibrosis and tumorigenesis. The majority of her studies focus on the pathogenesis of scleroderma, an autoimmune disease characterized by vascular abnormalities and a prominent fibrosis of the skin. Dr. Trojanowska’s lecture “New strategies for targeting fibrosis in systemic sclerosis” was given in conjunction with her son, Martin Trojanowski, MD of the UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology. His lecture was entitled “To infinity and beyond: the state of future systemic sclerosis”. This is the first RGR lecture delivered by a mother and son team.

Selected Recipients of
The Howard and Martha Holley
Research Prize in Rheumatology

1991
Frank C. Arnett, MD
John B. Harley, MD
Bevra H. Hahn, MD

1992
Joel D. Taurog, MD

1993
Nancy Oppenheimer-Marks, PhD
John B. Lowe, MD

1995
Allen C. Steere, MD

1996
John R. Couchman, PhD
A Robin Poole, PhD

2012
Professor Wolfgang Gross

2015
Richard Pope, MD

Third Annual Graciela Alarcón, MD, MPH lecture

Jane E. Salmon, MD
Professor of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical College Collette Kean Research Professor Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY

Jane E. Salmon, MD will be the third Graciela S. Alarcón lecturer and will speak at Rheumatology Grand Rounds on Thursday, April 14 at 8:00 a.m. in West Pavilion Conference Room D. The title of her talk is “Mice and Mothers: Progress in Understanding Pregnancy Complications in Patients with Lupus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome”. This lecture honors Dr. Alarcón’s legacy in lupus research and her contributions to the UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology. There will also be a reception celebrating the establishment of the Graciela S. Alarcón, MD, MPH Endowed Support Fund for Lupus Research on Friday, April 15, 2016 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 PM in the Pittman Center for Advanced Medical Studies.

Dr. Salmon is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Collette Kean Research Professor at Hospital for Special Surgery. She graduated magna cum laude from New York University and earned a medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, where she was the first woman enrolled in their Medical Scientist Training Program. She completed training in internal medicine at The New York Hospital and in rheumatology at Hospital for Special Surgery, and has been an HSS faculty member since 1983. Dr. Salmon has served on the Board of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology and was co-editor of Arthritis & Rheumatism and is currently an Associate Editor of Annals of Rheumatic Diseases. At Hospital for Special Surgery, she is a Director of the Lupus and APS Center of Excellence, co-Director of the Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research, and Director of the FOCIS Center of Excellence. Dr. Salmon’s research has focused on elucidating mechanisms of tissue injury in lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Her basic and clinical studies have expanded our understanding of pregnancy loss and organ damage in SLE and the determinants of disease outcome in lupus patients with nephritis, pregnancy, and cardiovascular disease.

The vision of UAB’s CCTS is to reduce health disparities in diseases disproportionately represented within the Deep South as it accelerates discovery to improve human health. The CCTS’ recent award of $8.4M / year more than doubles its annual funding in its previous cycle. With its new award, the Center is poised to support 20 pre-doctoral trainees annually as part of its TL1 NRSA Training Program – 10 short-term and 10 full year scholarships. It will also support eight junior faculty annually as part of its KL2 Mentored Career Development Award. In addition, the CCTS will continue to build major capacities in training, clinical trial implementation, drug discovery, study design and methodology, informatics, pilot investigation, and clinical research services. Through its Partner Network – 11 institutions spanning Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana – the CCTS seeks to catalyze collaborative efforts in scientific research and interventional trials, to promote workforce development and to enhance clinical care in an effort to serve the unique populations in our region.

Congratulations to Dr. Robert K. Kimberly and many others who successfully led the application to renew the UAB CCTS for 5 years!

S. Louis Bridges, Jr., MD, PhD, was appointed to a three-year term as Chair of the American College of Rheumatology Committee on Research. He will serve as an invited guest on the ACR Board of Directors and as the Research Representative on the Rheumatology Research Foundation Board of Directors. The Chair is responsible for driving the agenda and projects of the committee in conjunction with ACR staff and committee members; for reporting on the committee’s activities to both the ACR and Foundation Boards and presenting any information and/or action items the committee brings forth to the boards.

Troy D. Randall, PhD received a new NIH U19 grant entitled, “Virus-Induced Cell Fate Decisions in Anti-Viral Immunity”. The study consists of four projects, supported by three cores. In Project 1, Dr. Troy Randall at UAB will determine how Tfh responses are controlled by IL-2 signaling and availability. In Project 2, Dr. Allan Zajac at UAB will determine how anti-viral CD8+ T cells responses are controlled by adhesion molecules and T cell clustering. In Project 3, Dr. Frances Lund at UAB will determine how anti-viral B cell responses are controlled by IFNgama signaling and availability. In Project 4, Dr. Nicole Baumgarth of UC Davis will determine how natural and induced anti-viral IgM responses are controlled. These projects will be facilitated by cores: (A) Administration and Biostatistics (Troy Randall, UAB); (B) Viral stocks and reagents (Frances Lund, UAB); and (C) Human immunology (Dr. Frances Eun-Hyung Lee, Emory). Importantly, all projects will be able to examine virus-specific B and T cells using tetramer reagents developed by Core B. In addition, although many of the mechanistic studies in each project will be performed using mouse models, the projects will also test key hypotheses in humans via interactions with the Human Immunology Core (Core C).

Dr. Alarcón was honored at the recognition ceremony at the Opening Lecture on Saturday, November 15, at 4:30 pm at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in Boston, MA and by the Division at the UAB Reception held on Monday, November 17. The Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award is to a clinical scientist making outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology. Chela is the first UAB recipient of this award. Previous awardees have been: David Felson, MD, MPH; Matthew Liang, MD, MPH; Kenneth D. Brandt, MD; Lauren M. Pachman, MD; James F. Fries, MD; Jill P. Buyon, MD; Daniel J. Lovell, MD; Michael E. Weinblatt, MD; Allen C. Steere, MD; Gary S. Hoffman, MD, MS; Edward H. Giannini, MSc, DrPH; Marc C. Hochberg, MD; Jeffrey N. Katz, MD, MSc.

We are excited about the return of Research in Progress (Sponsored by the UAB Rheumatic Diseases Core Center P30 AR048311 and the Comprehensive Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Autoimmunity Center) on September 4, 2014 at Noon in SHEL 515. Several speakers during the upcoming year will focus on the Wonderful World of Technology to highlight new approaches and techniques, and Dr. Eugenia Kharlampieva, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, will be our inaugural Wonderful World of Technology Presenter to speak to us about the application of Confocal Imaging for Analysis of Nanoparticle Delivery and Release of Therapeutics. Please plan to attend!!

For more information about the Research in Progress series or to be added to the Research in Progress Distribution List, please contact Stephanie Ledbetter at sledbetter@uab.edu

Chela received the distinction of Dr. Honoris Causa (honorary doctoral degree) from the Universidad de Asunción in Paraguay in September, 2013. She was also invited to participate in the 2-part evaluation of Grants for the Innovative Medicines Initiative in the area of Systemic Autoimmune Diseases. Support for this effort is from the European Union. These activities took place in Brussels in April and August 2013, and Chela was the only non-European member of the panel.

Dr. Fessler, Dunn Scleroderma Scholar, organized the UAB Scleroderma Symposium held on Thursday, December 5, 2013. Maria Trojanowska, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Arthritis Center at Boston University in Boston was the keynote speaker. In addition to Drs. Trojanowska and Fessler, speakers included Marcin Trojanowski, MD; Joao de Andrade, MD, Director, Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic; Yong Zhou, PhD, Assistant Professor, UAB Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; Joanne Murphy-Ullrich, PhD, Professor of Pathology; and Timothy Wick, PhD, Professor and Chair, Biomedical Engineering. The symposium was co-sponsored by the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, the Comprehensive Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Autoimmunity Center, and the UAB BioMatrix Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Center.

Lou Bridges has been selected as Chair of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Division Directors Taskforce. The charge of ACR Division Directors Taskforce is to create a mission, measurable goals and a strategic plan to address current issues faced by Rheumatology Division Directors. There will be a draft proposal brought to the ACR Executive Committee outlining the goals of the group and the strategy/timeline for achieving those goals. Other taskforce members include Drs. Abby Abelson, The Cleveland Clinic; Mike Holers, University of Colorado, Denver; Dan Battafarano, Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX; Joanne Jordan, University of North Carolina; Naomi Schlesinger, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, NJ; Leslie Crofford, Vanderbilt; Terry Moore, St. Louis University; Lindsey Criswell, University of California, San Francisco, and William J. Koopman, former Director, UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology and Distinguished Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the UAB Department of Medicine. Dr. Koopman was a member of the American College of Rheumatology’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Academic Rheumatology, which issued a report on the challenges and the opportunities that confront academic rheumatology today.