Pediatric Rheumatology Research​

The Division of Rheumatology is engaged in research targeted to improve quality and outcomes for children who live with autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders including childhood forms of arthritis, lupus and vasculitis. Each physician in our division takes on this charge through a different focus resulting in a multidisciplinary approach to reach our goals. These endeavors have fostered new approaches to diagnosis, treatment and translational research for many of these conditions, including:

• Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM)
• Juvenile Scleroderma
• Childhood Onset Arthritis
• Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
• Vasculitis
• Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA)

Division physicians participate in national multicenter research coordinated through the Pediatric Rheumatology Collaborative Study Group (PRCSG), which focuses on drug trials, and the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA), which focuses on disease management. They are also active in the International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group (IMACS).

Other research interests in the division include:

• Patient-reported outcomes
• Measures of disease activity and remission
• Biomarkers of disease activity
• Patient registries documenting natural history of pediatric rheumatic diseases and treatment outcomes
• Medical education

Dr. Klein-Gitelman’s Research

Dr. Marisa Klein-Gitelman's research includes projects investigating disease outcomes and the burden of childhood rheumatic diseases. Dr. Klein-Gitelman is the site investigator for CARRA and PRCSG multicenter projects. She is also involved in projects investigating pediatric lupus including:

• Evaluation of thinking processes at onset of lupus and potential damage over time.
• Evaluation of genetic risk factors for lupus.
• Assessment of tools to monitor pediatric lupus disease activity and damage.
• Assessment of potential markers that detect the onset of disease activity.

Dr. De Ranieri’s Research

Dr. Deirdre De Ranieri’s research focuses on the use of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound (MSUS) in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). She is involved in the standardization of image acquisition and disease scoring in children with JIA and also uses MSUS to study subclinical synovitis in children with arthritis. She participates in studies of new drugs for treating children with JIA, and she is interested in synovial cell populations and their potential role in both predicting prognosis and directing more targeted therapies in children with JIA.