From its beginnings as the Rheumatic Diseases Study Group (RDSG) in the early 1930s, NYU Langone Medical Center’s Division of Rheumatology has been built on a tradition of research and clinical care. Today’s division, with 24 full-time and 76 part-time faculty members, continues to push toward understanding the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases and interventions to improve outcomes.
For example, in addition to her National Institutes of Health (NIH) supported lupus laboratory and studies on neonatal lupus, Division Director Jill P. Buyon, MD, the Lady Va and Sir Deryck Maughan Professor of Rheumatology, recently published the results of a multi-center study of the risks of pregnancy in mothers with lupus. In another laboratory, José U. Scher, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, and colleagues explore the connection between the microbiome and psoriatic arthritis.
At the seven affiliated outpatient hospitals, ranging from Bellevue Hospital to the Manhattan VA to NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital and Hospital for Joint Diseases, clinicians and trainees encounter diverse patient populations that contribute to the depth of research for understanding the early diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic conditions.
A tradition of basic science exploration, married to the diversity of patient populations, defines NYU Langone’s Division of Rheumatology as a top U.S. division, notes Gerald Weissmann, MD, professor emeritus of medicine, past president of ACR, who was director of the division from 1973 to 2000.
It was this combination that drew Gregg Silverman, MD, professor, Department of Medicine and Department of Pathology, to move from his former post as a professor at the University of California, San Diego and an adjunct member of the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. “NYU Langone has the most remarkable clinical facilities and we provide the highest standard of clinical care,” Dr. Silverman remarks. “There can be no better place for studying lupus and related autoimmune diseases than New York City.”
Training & Retaining Talent
The Division’s longstanding training program, established as a formal ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) program in 1986 by Steven B. Abramson, MD, who later became division director, currently includes eight fellows. Dr. Abramson is now the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine and chair, Department of Medicine, and vice dean for education faculty & academic affairs at NYU Langone.