Current Research and Scholarly Interests
I am interested in the pathophysiology, natural history and treatment of patients with autoimmune diseases that have skin manifestations. In conjunction with Dr. Lorinda Chung, Professor of Rheumatology, we have developed a multi-disciplinary dermatology/rheumatology clinic. This weekly clinic is dedicated to the management of patients with systemic sclerosis or myositis.
Part of my research focus is to conduct clinical trials. In past years, we have focused on agents that either interfere with interferon signaling or autoantibodies. More recently, we are excited to be members of the CIT (Cellular Immune Tolerance) group at Stanford. We are dedicated to developing and testing cellular therapy for autoimmune diseases, especially for myositis, systemic sclerosis and lupus erythematosus. For the first time, this type of therapy holds the promise of long-term remission of autoimmunity. We function as part of the larger network of immunologists at Stanford in order to understand and the cellular level how particular therapies impact the immune system and the skin.
Since 2004, we also have maintained a large clinical and tissue bank derived from patients with systemic sclerosis, myositis and lupus. One focus of this translational research effort is to understand the pathophysiology of disease, as well as molecular factors that can predict cancer and adverse skin events (such as calcinosis). We are also studying genetic factors involved in calcinosis. Finally, a major effort is to identify and characterize autoantibodies in dermatomyositis. We are particularly interested in identifying novel antibodies that are related to cancer and autoimmunity. Our ultimate goal is to understand how cancer and autoimmunity are linked, which has the potential to lead to more general insights into the body's normal immune response against cancer.
