The 2022 ACR Awards of Distinction

Dr. Chung regularly reviews grants and journal articles for several organizations. She has served on the editorial board of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Clinical Rheumatology and is an associate editor for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Currently, Dr. Chung serves as a standing member for the NIH Xenobiotic and Nutrient Disposition and Action (XNDA) Study Section. In recognition of the value of her contributions, she was awarded the Leon Goldberg Early Investigator Award by the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics in 2021.

In 2011, Dr. Chung received the Rheumatology Research Foundation Ephraim P. Engleman Endowed Resident Research Preceptorship award and, years later, she was the recipient of the Foundation’s K Supplement and the NIH R01 Bridge awards. She has served on the ACR Committee on Journal Publications, the Abstract Selection Committee and the editorial board of Arthritis Care & Research. 

Committed to the training of the next generation of academic rheumatologists, Dr. Chung has mentored several internal medicine residents, some of whom became recipients of Rheumatology Research Foundation awards themselves. 

“I am very grateful and honored to receive this award,” says Dr. Chung. “The prior Henry Kunkel Award winners have made tremendous contributions to rheumatology. They set a very high bar as I continue my career in academic rheumatology.”

9/30/21 Taubman Institute Donor mtg. and Headshots at KEC.

J. Michelle Kahlenberg, MD, PhD, is the Giles G. Boles, MD, and Dorothy Mulkey, MD, Research Professor of Rheumatology, associate professor of internal medicine and dermatology, and associate chief of basic and translational research in the Division of Rheumatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed her undergraduate degree at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, her MD, PhD and internal medicine training at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, and her fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Michigan.

translational research in the Division of Rheumatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed her undergraduate degree at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, her MD, PhD and internal medicine training at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, and her fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Michigan. 

Her PhD training focused on mechanisms of inflammasome activation in the lab of George Dubyak, PhD, at Case Western, and her fellowship research training focused on the role of inflammasome biology in lupus pathophysiology in the lab of Mariana Kaplan, MD, at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Kahlenberg’s clinical work is centered on the care of complicated lupus patients, including those with refractory skin disease. She has been running her multi–NIH R01-funded research laboratory since 2013. Her research combines translational approaches using patient samples and murine models to uncover the mechanisms that drive lupus and lupus flares. In particular, she is focused on unraveling the pathogenic mechanisms in cutaneous lupus, the factors that drive photosensitivity, and how skin inflammation can influence systemic lupus activity.