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Rheumatology has international reputation

by Heather Woolwine
Public Relations
By nature of their mission, MUSC health care professionals often find themselves with opportunities to spread research and clinical knowledge throughout the world, sometimes in addition to providing services or equipment.
 
 “MUSC has a great international reputation in terms of scleroderma research, and Dr. (E. Carwile) LeRoy (founder and former rheumatology division director) is to thank for that reputation,” said Richard Silver, M.D., director of rheumatology and immunology and professor of medicine and pediatrics. “It’s why we were asked to present at a rheumatology conference in Poland in October.”
 
The conference, specifically called to discuss pulmonary manifestations of rheumatic diseases, especially scleroderma, was held Oct. 8 through 13 at Bialowieza National Park in Eastern Poland.
 
Silver was joined by Kristin Highland, M.D., a pulmonologist and a fellow in the Rheumatology division. “I wanted training in rheumatology treatments to make me a better pulmonologist, and at the same time feel that I can offer something to the rheumatology field as a specialist in pulmonary manifestations of rheumatic diseases.”
 
Highland and Silver both see that a majority of patients with rheumatic disease develop pulmonary problems. Scleroderma is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the body’s connective tissue. Physically, it’s a build-up of scar tissue that affects a person’s skin and internal organs. The disease is characterized by discolored patchy skin, swelling, joint and muscle pain, shortness of breath, swallowing difficulties and a host of other problems. As of yet, no one knows the cause or cure.                                          
 
Going to Poland not only served as an opportunity to share MUSC’s expertise with physicians throughout Poland but also became a chance to notice how lucky MUSC, and the United States in general, are to have what they have.
 
“I’m definitely more appreciative of what we have after I visit countries like Poland,” Silver said. “I’ve been to Warsaw before and the change from the 1990s to now is tremendous but in many ways Poland is still recovering. MUSC actually has a long tradition of collaboration with rheumatologists in that area.”
 
Indeed, three MUSC faculty in the Rheumatology division are from Poland.
 
While on this particular visit, Silver and Highland were asked to visit a patient in the local hospital. “It was like a time warp to 50 years ago,” he said. “They had eight-bed wards and such limited resources.”
 
That’s when the light bulb came on for Highland. She suggested that MUSC help the hospital acquire an oximeter through Nelcor Corporation. “It wasn’t possible to get a complete pulmonary function work-up anywhere in Poland,” she said. “It’s a simple instrument that gives you a tremendous amount of information and helps with the research that the Polish physicians are so eager to perform.”
 
While in the area of the former czar’s hunting grounds and the university they visited (Poland was under communist rule until the last 15 years), Silver and Highland saw Versailles-like gardens, 17th century Baroque architecture, and witnessed European bison. Poland is the only place they are still found.
 
Silver and Highland look forward to collaborating with them again in the future and recently returned from another conference in Budapest.




 
 

Friday, April 29, 2005
Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.