Maura Daly Iversen, PT, DPT, SD, MPH
Associate editor of The Rheumatologist named distinguished scholar
The nonprofit National Academies of Practice (NAP) advises governmental bodies on the nation’s healthcare system. It is the self-proclaimed “only interprofessional group of healthcare practitioners and scholars dedicated to supporting affordable, accessible, coordinated quality healthcare for all.”
Maura Daly Iversen, PT, DPT, SD, MPH, of Northeastern University was recently elected a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow in NAP. Dr. Iversen was inducted at a Gala Membership Banquet on April 5 in Alexandria, Va. In addition to her primary occupation as professor and chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences at Northeastern University, Dr. Iversen is an associate editor of The Rheumatologist.
John J. O’Shea, MD
2014 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine awarded
The 2014 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine was awarded to John J. O’Shea, MD, for his research in immunology and cytokine biology. Dr. O’Shea is the scientific director at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the National Institutes of Health.
The second annual Ross Prize goes to “an active investigator who has produced innovative, paradigm-shifting research that is worthy of significant and broad attention in the field of molecular medicine.” Dr. O’Shea’s discoveries uncovered the basic steps in cytokine signaling inside cells. His insights led to the idea of targeting Janus kinase, which led Pfizer to develop tofacitinib. When the FDA approved tofacitinib in 2012, it was the first oral therapy approved for rheumatoid arthritis in 10 years.
“We can block cytokines from inside the cell now,” says Dr. O’Shea.
Dr. O’Shea says his longstanding interest in “what cytokines do to cells and how they do it” continues as his research moves into epigentics and, perhaps, ultimately explains why humans develop autoimmune diseases.
Drs. Arnold & Sclamberg
Artisan medical practice opens doors in Illinois
A new orthopedic and rheumatology medical practice in Skokie, Ill., north of Chicago, is a family affair. More accurately, it’s a partnership of two families: the Arnolds and the Sclambergs. The father-daughter team of William Arnold, MD, FACP, MACR, and Erin Arnold, MD, FACR, has opened doors with the father-son team of Edward Sclamberg, MD, and Steven Sclamberg, MD.
