Rheumatology & Immunology 2022 Year in Review

As the director of the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, I am proud of the unwavering commitment to patient care exhibited by the division faculty members, fellows, and clinical staff over the past year. This report highlights our most important breakthroughs and accomplishments of 2022 and the outcomes and innovations that make us a national leader in in the treatment of rheumatic diseases.

Highlights of the past year include:

• Hiring two new faculty members, Drs. Kathleen Maksimowicz-McKinnon and Priyanka Ballal and one new physician assistant, Joe McTavish
• Under the leadership of Dr. Maksimowicz-McKinnon, MUSC’s new Vasculitis Center will provide integrated clinical service, research, and training in vasculitis.
• In FY2022, division faculty made outstanding progress in obtaining external funding to grow our research mission. Specifically, 18 new grants and two competing renewals were secured, while 29 existing awards were continued. Among them, the P30 Core Center for Clinical Research (Improving Minority HEAlth in Rheumatic Diseases or IMHeaRD) was successfully renewed.
• In 2022, MUSC Health’s rheumatology program was once again ranked high-performing by U.S. News & World Report and has consistently placed in the top 20 annual rankings for the past 14 years.
• Our mentoring mission was advanced through Dr. Carol Feghali-Bostwick’s K24 competitive renewal and her role as a mentor with Dr. Melissa Cunningham on Dr. DeAnna Baker Frost’s K08.
• The T32 training grant in inflammatory and fibrosing diseases is in its 17th year of funding and provides support for training future faculty.
• The hybrid live and remote patient education days in lupus and scleroderma were well attended this year and demonstrate our commitment to patient education.

In my service as the chair of the Division Directors Committee to the American College of Rheumatology, I have seen on a national scale how the current environment poses challenges to academic rheumatology. However, we look forward to meeting those challenges with our new vasculitis center, patient outreach efforts, and programs to address health disparities.

With profound gratitude,

Jim Oates, M.D.
Director, MUSC Division of Rheumatology & Immunology