The ACR/ARHP Member News

David Pisetsky, MD, PhD

Dr. Pisetsky

U.S. Bone & Joint Initiative president-elect

David Pisetsky is a name readers may be familiar with. He was the physician editor of The Rheumatologist from its launch in 2006 to 2011. “It was great fun to work with a great team,” says Dr. Pisetsky. Now he is the president-elect of the United States Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI). He will take office for a two-year term in June 2015. Dr. Pisetsky says, “USBJI is an outstanding organization and can play a key leadership role in … creating innovative programs to advance multidisciplinary, patient-centered care and promoting advocacy and research.” That multidisciplinary, patient-centered care is an important issue to Dr. Pisetsky. “As care gets complicated and, I’m going to say, fragmented, we know what should be done, but we don’t always know who should be responsible for doing it.”

George Kollias, PhD

Dr. Kollias

Carol Nachman Prize winner announced

George Kollias is a biologist, member of the Academy of Athens, professor of experimental physiology at the Medical School of the University of Athens and director of the Immunology Division at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming,” where he served as president and scientific director from 2002–2010.

The Carol Nachman Prize “recognizes outstanding research and innovation achievements, aiming to promote clinical, therapeutic and experimental research in [rheumatology].” This international prize has been awarded every year since 1972 for excellence in rheumatism-related research. Funded by the city of Wiesbaden, Germany, the prize is named for a former concessionaire of the Wiesbaden Casino.

As the award text says, “Prof. Kollias’ studies demonstrated that tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a key molecule in the development of rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases. He established the genetically modified animal model for rheumatoid arthritis (a human TNF-alpha transgenic mouse), thus creating the basis for the successful introduction of effective biological therapy principles for the neutralisation of TNF for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatism-related diseases.”

For more than 20 years, from the beginning of his independent research to today, Dr. Kollias has studied the different layers of TNF function in the immune system. He’s studied the molecule in different animal models and in different diseases, such as arthritis, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis. His lab has studied how TNF functions in different diseases. The research led him to understand that “skin, joint and gut diseases are all connected,” he says.