Scleroderma Foundation Names Doctor of the Year
The Scleroderma Foundation has named Lesley Ann Saketkoo, MD, MPH, doctor of the year for her leadership and commitment to the scleroderma community. Dr. Saketkoo is an associate professor of clinical medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans.
Dr. Saketkoo is an internationally recognized researcher, educator and clinician in scleroderma/systemic sclerosis, sarcoidosis, myositis, pulmonary hypertension and interstitial lung disease. According to the Foundation website, “She was principal investigator of the large study that identified the minimal set of outcome measures for connective tissue disease-related ILD and also for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for use in clinical trials; and is the regional principal investigator for the PHAROS study and the NIH-sponsored Genome Research in African American Scleroderma Patients study.”
Seeing life with scleroderma from the patients’ eyes is key when addressing such issues as why a particular trial has trouble with enrollment. The patients may be able to offer insight into difficulties the providers had no idea of.
Dr. Saketkoo finds great value in discussing what patients expect from trials and new drugs. “What are they ready to barter concerning benefits vs. side effects?” she asks, noting patients are not only stressed by their life-threatening condition, but also by having to cope with daily life.
She has visited Capitol Hill to educate representatives and senators. Dr. Saketkoo wants to raise awareness of the condition among lay people, too, because it could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment, which in turn can lead to decreased severity of symptoms.
Dr. Saketkoo received her post-graduate degrees and trained in pediatrics and internal medicine at Tulane University and rheumatology at Louisiana State University. She holds faculty appointments in both pulmonary medicine and rheumatology. She established the internationally recognized Scleroderma and Sarcoidosis Patient Care and Research Center (SSPCRC) between Tulane and LSU in 2011 and is co-director of the clinical research and director of wellness practices at the LSU-Tulane collaborative Comprehensive Pulmonary Hypertension Center.
‘Patients & their families are the experts. They have an intimate range of knowledge & are a gold mine of information.’—Dr. Saketkoo
Award for Adult Lupus Research
Paul Hoover, MD, PhD, received a Gary S. Gilkeson Career Development Award from the Lupus Foundation of America for the second consecutive year. Dr. Hoover is an instructor in medicine and rheumatology attending at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. His award is for adult lupus research.
