The ACR/ARHP Member News

Expertscape uses quantitative analysis of publications in the PubMed database to declare the world’s foremost experts in various medical disciplines. In June, Expertscape proclaimed Désirée van der Heijde, MD, PhD, one of the world’s top specialists in rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. van der Heijde has published more than 280 papers in international literature.

As professor of rheumatology at the Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands, she has many projects, but the one dearest to her heart is understanding “the relationship between disease activity and damage as seen on radiographs. We have been struggling for a long time to prove it. It’s very exciting to see it now,” says Dr. van der Heijde.

Victoria Shanmugam, MBBS, MRCP

Dr. Shanmugam named new division director at George Washington University

Victoria Shanmugam, MBBS, MRCP, says she is very excited to be the new director of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C.

“There is a unique opportunity at GW to recognize and build a strong translational research collaboration across boundaries. The mission is providing strong multidisciplinary patient care, hypothesis-driven research and state-of-the-art clinical training for new rheumatologists.”

“Dr. Shanmugam’s experience in translational research, rheumatology and wound healing brings cutting-edge immunology and genomics research to the patient’s bedside,” says Alan G. Wasserman, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine at SMHS.

Dr. Shanmugam was most recently associate professor of medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She graduated from Oxford University and the Imperial College School of Medicine in Great Britain.

Donah Zack Crawford, MA

Revolutionary War reenactor serves as 18th century medical interpreter

Donah Zack Crawford’s paying job is clinical research coordinator for The Arthritis Group in Philadelphia. Her hobby is 18th century medical interpreter. Wearing Colonial-era inspired costumes, she teaches people about medicine and sanitation in the 1700s as part of the British Detached Hospital.

Her talks are informed by the contemporaneous books and medical instruments she’s collected since she started participating in Revolutionary War reenactments 24 years ago. When her 8-year-old son decided he wanted to be part of reenactments, he needed an adult to accompany him.

Ms. Crawford said most of the women cooked or sewed. She didn’t particularly enjoy doing either of those things, so she found another role to play. A medical slant came naturally. Because the most popular treatments for maladies, including arthritis, were bleeding and purging to rid the body of bad humours, she had a lot to learn.