Dept. of Defense Funding for Scleroderma Research

Over the past 28 years, the Dept. of Defense (DOD) has funded almost $16 billion in medical research through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. For the first time, scleroderma has been designated as focus research area with FY 2020 funding of $5 million, in part due to efforts of the Scleroderma Foundation and Scleroderma Research Foundation. As I have been doing grant reviews for the DOD for the past two years, I was asked [...]

June 12th, 2020|Categories: News & Announcements|0 Comments

Pulsed Plasma Exchange for the Treatment of Systemic Sclerosis: An Overview for Clinicians

We are frequently asked by patients interested in talking to their doctor about trying therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) how to approach this topic.  This can be very challenging, especially since many rheumatologists have little or no experience using TPE and often view TPE as a last resort treatment when everything else fails, assuming (incorrectly) that it is very invasive and risky. Working with the doctors on our Medical Advisory Board, we have written a document [...]

Systemic Sclerosis and COVID-19: Up to Date Recommendations for Physicians

This article by the World Scleroderma Foundation on systemic sclerosis and COVID-19 just came out today in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases: https://ard.bmj.com/content/early/2020/04/29/annrheumdis-2020-217407. I think it is well worth reading for anyone with scleroderma who is concerned about COVID-19.

May 2nd, 2020|Categories: News & Announcements|0 Comments

A Positive COVID-19 Antibody Test is Not a “Get Out of Jail Free” Card!

Note: While this article is not specifically about systemic sclerosis, since there is a lot of interest currently about when people can safely resume normal activities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we thought that this article might be of interest to many of you.  This article is based on a story that was first broadcast on April 15, 2020 on National Public Radio (NPR).  You can read the original story here: COVID-19 Antibody [...]

April 16th, 2020|Categories: Educational Articles|0 Comments