Dr. Rosenbaum: I have practiced rheumatology long enough to appreciate how much research has transformed practice. The Rosenbaum family donation is small within the universe of philanthropy, but my hope is that it can impact knowledge, practice and careers.
If you’re a venture capitalist, you may support biotech, but you wouldn’t expect every idea or concept you support to succeed. And if you’re creative, which I take to be a synonym for innovative, there’s no guarantee that the idea that you have is going to work out. I hope that there are many awards from the donation. It’s not realistic to believe all researchers will impact how we practice rheumatology in the future, but some of them will have major impacts.
Cultivating Passion
Dr. Maria Tsokos
Drs. George and Maria Tsokos, both distinguished physician-scientists, met at Athens Medical School in Greece before advancing their careers at the NIH and in academic medicine. They now work at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston. George serves as the chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at Beth Israel and is also a professor of Medicine at Harvard. Maria is a professor in residence of medicine at Harvard.
As leaders in the care and study of lupus, together they have advanced knowledge about molecular abnormalities in lupus patients’ immune cells and shed light on how the disease develops and progresses over time.
TR: Why did you decide to specialize in rheumatology?
Dr. George Tsokos
Dr. George Tsokos: Before coming to this country, I did my first research fellowship in cellular immunology in Athens. I came to love immunology. When I arrived at NIH in 1979, I landed in its arthritis branch. I met people working on lupus with great enthusiasm, and I became enamored with the disease.
