She discovered the field of rheumatology while attending Hebrew University Medical School in Israel. “It was the first lecture series on rheumatologic diseases and I attended a lecture on periodic fevers,” Schwartz recalls. “It was an unbelievable lecture where the professor spoke about the research, the multitude of symptoms, the difficulties of diagnosis, and so on. Because these diseases involve the entire body and manifest in a variety of ways, it is like putting together a puzzle. I was hooked on the science.”
While on leave from medical school and living in New York, Schwartz volunteered at the rheumatology research lab at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Under the direction of Chaim Putterman, MD, chief of the rheumatology division there, Schwartz began to show a great aptitude for research, despite having no prior experience. After three months in the lab, Dr. Putterman told Schwartz about the ACR REF/Abbott Medical Student Research Preceptorship. “I had no idea that awards like this existed, and I was excited about the opportunity,” says Schwartz.
Schwartz and Dr. Putterman applied for and were selected to participant in the Medical Student Research Preceptorship. During her preceptorship, she remained under the direction of Dr. Putterman and became closely involved in a project studying TWEAK, a relatively new cytokind discovered in 1997. “We believe TWEAK incites [lupus nephritis (LN)] so we studied whether urinary TWEAK levels may be a useful LN biomarker.” Schwartz worked on the clinical aspects of the projects, regularly visiting lupus patients, collecting samples, and performing tests.
The project had fairly significant findings and Schwartz was just published as a lead author. Her piece, “Urinary TWEAK and the activity of lupus nephritis,” appeared in the Journal of Autoimmunity (2006;27(4):242-250). “Because of the preceptorship and the support of everyone working on the project, I was able to make the project a priority among my work at the lab and now I’m published,” says Schwartz. “This amazing experience has affirmed in my mind that I want to be both a clinician and a researcher.”
Schwartz will eventually complete medical school when she returns to Israel, but for now, she is committed to the TWEAK project and will remain at the lab to conduct further research. “The paper was just the beginning,” she says. “We want to show that over time, the amount of TWEAK levels change with respect to the disease activity and treatment that would be helpful in the clinical management of patients with [systemic lupus erythematosus].”