Rheumatologists Ernest R. Vina, MD, and Dominick Sudano, MD, both members of the University of Arizona Arthritis Center, have been selected to present at the 2014 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting, Nov. 14-19, in Boston. The conference is the premier scientific meeting for professionals involved in research or health care delivery for patients with arthritis, rheumatic or musculoskeltal diseases.
Dr. Vina will discuss his abstract, “Improvement Following Total Knee Replacement Surgery: Exploring Preoperative Symptoms and Change in Preoperative Symptoms.” This study utilizes a large database, “The Osteoarthritis Initiative,” to determine predictors of outcome after knee replacement based on the trajectory of symptoms and patient-reported outcomes prior to surgery. Other study investigators included C. Kent Kwoh, MD, director of the UA Arthritis Center and professor of medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, UA College of Medicine – Tucson.
will present his research findings, “Management of Asymptomatic Coccidioidomycosis in Patients with Rheumatic Disease.” The study suggests that it may be safe to continue treatment in patients with asymptomatic coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever). Other study investigators included Jeffrey Lisse, MD, professor of medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, UA College of Medicine – Tucson; Neil Ampel, MD, UA professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, with joint appointments in the Department of Immunobiology and in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division of the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health; and Varun Bhalla, fourth-year medical student at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.
Drs. Vina and Sudano are assistant professors in the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson. They see patients at the University of Arizona Rheumatology Physician Offices and Infusion Clinic at the University of Arizona Medical Center – South Campus, 2800 E. Ajo Way, Tucson. For an appointment, please call 520-694-8888.
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About Dr. Ernest Vina
Dr. Vina’s research interests include racial disparities and treatment preferences in systemic lupus erythematosus, treatment preferences, racial disparities in osteoarthritis, quality of care and health services. He is the author of numerous publications on these and other subjects.
Prior to joining the UA, Dr. Vina served as assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and as a staff rheumatologist in the Veteran’s Administration Pittsburgh Healthcare System, where he also was the core investigator at the VAPHS Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, a VA Center of Excellence.
He is board-certified in internal medicine and rheumatology and is a member of the American College of Rheumatology, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association and the Society for Medical Decision Making.
Dr. Vina earned a bachelor’s degree in psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1999 and his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin School of Medicine, in 2004. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he also completed a fellowship in health services research. His completed a rheumatology fellowship in 2011 at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he also earned a master’s degree in health studies.
About Dr. Dominick Sudano
Dr. Sudano’s major research interest is the diagnosis and management of coccidiomycosis (Valley Fever) in patients with rheumatic disease treated with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), corticosteroids and biologic response modifiers.
Dr. Sudano joined the UA faculty after completing a rheumatology fellowship in 2014 at the UA, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine in 2012.
Dr. Sudano is board-certified in internal medicine and board-eligible in rheumatology. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Rheumatology, the Housestaff Committee at the University of Arizona and the Peer Review Committee for the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System.
He has authored several articles on topics ranging from exon skipping mutations in collagen, new molecular mechanisms in muscular dystrophy and comparative analyses of gene-expression patterns in human and African great ape cultured fibroblasts.
Dr. Sudano received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Pennsylvania State University in 2001 and his medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia in 2008. He is the recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and was honored twice as a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Scholar and Fellow.