Spring 2024’s Awards, Appointments & Announcements in Rheumatology

“This is an incredible environment in which to take risks and do big things,” Dr. Vinuesa enthused about her current affiliation. “Because of the interdisciplinarity and the scientific technical platforms, we are able to do things I couldn’t have done before.”

Updated on May, 10, 2024, to correct Dr. Vinuesa’s titles.

Michael Allen, MD, Has Joined Division of Rheumatology at Albany Medical Center

Last fall, Michael Allen, MD, joined the Division of Rheumatology at Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center, moving from his last post at Arthritis Care P.C. in Clifton Park, N.Y. Dr. Allen obtained his medical degree from the American Medical Program at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He did his internal medicine residency at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and it was there that he began to think seriously about specializing in rheumatology.

“The more I learned about rheumatology, the more I realized it was a true internal medicine subspecialty because it covers so many different organ systems and provides a combination of treating multiple organ systems and viewing patients as a whole.”

Like many rheumatologists, Dr. Allen recalls a particularly complex case that contributed to his fascination with rheumatology. While he was at Mount Sinai, a young woman presented with adult-onset Still’s disease and developed macrophage activation syndrome, which led to liver and kidney failure. After a time in the intensive care unit, however, she was saved—by the rheumatologist who treated her. It was emblematic, Dr. Allen says, of the kind of “diagnostic mysteries that keep us rheumatologists interested in our field. One of the other things about our field is that there is such a variety of approaches—it is truly not a one-size-fits-all type of specialty.”

Dr. Allen completed his fellowship in rheumatology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, also in New York. At Albany Medical Center, he has a special interest in pulmonary manifestations of rheumatic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease, dermatomyositis, scleroderma and sarcoidosis.

As a member of the medical advisory board for the Steffens Scleroderma Foundation, Albany, N.Y., Dr. Allen has been helping organize annual Interdisciplinary Professional Education Events. Patients with scleroderma volunteer to lead classes for various specialists—physicians, dentists, pharmacists, and physician assistants—to share and educate the providers about the realities of living with the disease. Dr. Allen’s roles in this include recruiting patients with scleroderma to participate, providing lectures to students in advance of the events so that they have a background in the recognition and treatment of scleroderma, and participating in the expert panel during the event.