Patient Forum: Genomics & Scleroderma (2022)

This is a three-part presentation on genomics and the role of genomics studies in understanding scleroderma.

An Introduction to Genomics: Learn how genomics studies work and how they add to our knowledge about diseases like scleroderma with internationally renowned genomics researcher and SRF Scientific Advisor, Dan Kastner, MD, PhD (Distinguished and Senior Investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute)

The GRASP (Genome Research in African American Scleroderma Patients) Project: Learn about why researchers are interested to study scleroderma in African American patients, what the GRASP Project has discovered so far, and how it is guiding future research initiatives for African American patients and patients of other ethnicities. Presented by Francesco Boin, MD (Professor of Medicine, the Director of the Division of Rheumatology, and the Director of the Scleroderma Program at the Kao Autoimmunity Institute) and Pravitt Gourh, MD (Assistant Clinical Investigator at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

Juvenile Scleroderma and Genomics: Discover why juvenile studies may be able to give researchers unique insights into how scleroderma initiates and progresses in pediatric-onset patients, and why these insights are important for studying scleroderma in patients of all ages. Presented by Kathryn Torok, MD (Director of the Pediatric Scleroderma Clinic at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh)

This session was originally presented on June 1, 2022, as part of the inaugural SRF Patient Forum, “Collaborating for a Cure.”