Rheumatologist to Join URMC Faculty
Andreea Coca, M.D.
On Aug. 1, Andreea Coca, M.D., will join the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) faculty as an assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy/Immunology & Rheumatology. A strategic recruit to the Immunology & Infectious Disease IDP (integrated disease program), Coca not only brings keen research interests in abnormal bone remodeling, but also will supply the much-needed clinical support that URMC’s growing patient-base requires.
“As baby-boomers continue to age, our nation grapples with the possibility of a shortage of rheumatologists,” said Ignacio Sanz, M.D., chief of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, and leader of the Immunology & Infectious Disease IDP. “We’re fortunate to have Dr. Coca on board, and are confident that with her help, we’ll be able to better serve our patients, not only by offering a new specialty clinic, but also allowing many of them to secure appointments sooner.”
In addition to seeing patients in the general rheumatology clinic, Coca will help launch a novel clinic dedicated exclusively to local patients with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly ravages its own salivary and lacrimal glands (the latter produces tears), causing dry mouth, lips and eyes. (Sjogren’s affects about 4 million U.S. citizens; 90 percent of sufferers are women.) She’ll also see patients in URMC’s combined Rheumatology/Dermatology clinic, where she’ll work to help tease out patients who have psoriatic arthritis – a condition characterized by joint pain, stiffness and swelling, which would often otherwise go undiagnosed.
Coca’s unique research interests spotlight the molecule Dkk, which she suspects is over-expressed in patients with psoriatic arthritis – and if so, could serve as a sort of biomarker for the disease, signifying the amplified bone erosion that these patients often experience.
Coca earned her medical degree from Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Romania). She also completed a rheumatology fellowship at URMC, and both an internal medicine residency and internship at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. (View a copy of Coca’s CV, here.)
To book an appointment with Dr. Coca or another URMC rheumatologist, call 341-7900.
