In the News
20222021202020192018
AIR Research Presented at National AAAAI Scientific Meeting
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Members of the AIR Division recently attended the 2022 American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology Scientific Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. Several AIR faculty and fellows presented their work. This meeting highlights the current research findings and topics as they relate to allergy, asthma and immunology.
$10 Million NIH Grant Funds Research on Treatments for Autoimmune Diseases
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
The Allergy, Immunology & Rheumatology division, along with other URMC collaborators, has earned a multimillion-dollar grant for five years to research autoimmune diseases. Jennifer Anolik, M.D., Ph.D., professor and interim chief of Allergy/Immunology & Rheumatology, and Christopher Ritchlin, M.D., M.P.H., professor of Allergy/Immunology & Rheumatology, will lead rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis research teams, respectively.
Learn more about this grant.
Dr. Anandarajah Awarded Grant to Reduce Racial Disparities in Clinical Trials
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Allen Anandarajah, M.B.B.S., has been awarded a grant from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), funded through the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. Funding will go towards developing initiatives that will reduce racial disparities in lupus clinical trials. The grant is titled TIMELY, which stands for Training to Increase Minority Enrollment in Lupus trials with communitY engagement. TIMELY is a two-year grant for $500,000, which will be split between URMC and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, both universities leading the efforts on this initiative. The grant will run through September 2023.
Anandarajah and URMC were chosen as leaders for this new program due to the success of a previous two-year program, Materials to Increase Minority Involvement in Clinical Trials (MIMICT).
In the US, lupus is more common in African American and Hispanic populations, however, patients from these populations are currently underrepresented in lupus clinical trials. The goal of the project is to increase clinical trial literacy for physicians and community health workers on phases, functions, and benefits, through educational materials woven throughout a multi-stage, interactive training program. This will lead to raising clinical trial awareness among underrepresented patients living with lupus in our region.
“This project will help us continue to be national leaders in providing high-quality care for patients from minority communities with lupus,” said Anandarajah. “We started a few years ago with the IQ-LUPUS project that was partly funded by the Greater Rochester Health Foundation (GRHF) and have continued to improve our efforts first with the MIMICT and now the TIMELY projects. In addition to serving our patients, these grants will ultimately help build better relationships with our community."
Read the press release from the ACR.
Dr. Looney's Research on Senescent Cells in Lupus Highlighted by the Department of Defense
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Lupus research conducted by R. John Looney, MD and his lab has been highlighted in a Department of Defense publication that features news about biomedical research in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.
Read the article: "Therapeutic Targeting of Senescent Cells in Lupus"
Dr. Bingemann Appointed to ACGME Review Committee
Friday, January 21, 2022
Theresa Bingemann, MD, associate professor in Pediatrics and Medicine in the divisions of Pediatric Allergy/Immunology and Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, has been appointed to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME) review committee for allergy/immunology training programs. Dr. Bingemann is the Program Director for the URMC Allergy and immunology fellowship training program.