Dr. Gary Gilkeson is a Distinguished University Professor of medicine/microbiology and immunology. He is also an Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development. He received his undergraduate degree from Baylor University and his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He subsequently completed his internal medicine training at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Following four years as a Medical Officer in the Air Force, he completed a rheumatology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in 1989. He joined the faculty of Duke at that time and achieved the position of Associate Professor of Medicine prior to moving to MUSC in 1996.Dr. Gilkeson is the author of over 250 publications and has received numerous honors including summa cum laude graduate of Baylor University and was a third-year Alpha Omega Alpha initiate at UT Southwestern. He has served on numerous NIH study sections and journal editorial boards. He has served on the national board of directors for both the Arthritis Foundation and the Lupus Foundation of America. He has served on numerous national committees for both the Arthritis Foundation, the American College of Rheumatology, and the Research and Education Foundation of the ACR. Dr. Gilkeson is past chair of the medical and scientific advisory board for the Lupus Foundation of America. His honors include receiving the MUSC Health Outstanding Clinician Award for 2007, a National Volunteer Service Award from the Arthritis Foundation, 2013 Peggy Schachte Research Mentor Award, 2016 American College of Rheumatology Award for Outstanding Investigational Mentoring, and was named 2017 Physician in Chief Pro-Tempore at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. In 2018 he was named a Master of the American College of Rheumatology and as a Distinguished University Professor at MUSC.Dr. Gilkeson's research and clinical interests are both in lupus, particularly lupus nephritis. He also maintains a clinical interest in the disease retroperitoneal fibrosis. His clinical focus in lupus nephritis is the factors resulting in the ethnic disparity in outcomes in lupus comparing African Americans to Caucasians. He, along with Dr. Diane Kamen, has established the SLEIGH study, SLE in Gullah Health, to identify genetic and environmental factors that result in this disparity.Dr. Gilkeson's current major effort is in defining the safety and efficacy of umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of refractory lupus in a multi center clinical trial of which MUSC is the directing center. Members of the M.U.S.C.L.E. Research Group at MUSC are studying transcriptional regulators in lupus, the role of the complement system in lupus and the role of estrogen receptors in lupus. The lupus research group is also identifying and validating new biomarkers in lupus and participants are active in the lupus genetics consortium defining genetic causes of lupus. The lupus research group is also involved in a number of clinical trials, both investigator-initiated and industry sponsored.

Dr. Keisha Davis-King is a Consultant Rheumatologist and medical internist at the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex. She has over ten (10) years of clinical experience in Internal Medicine and pursued her sub specialty in Rheumatology. Dr. Davis-King also has professional affiliations with the British Society of Rheumatology and the Caribbean Association of Rheumatology with the aim of increasing awareness of Rheumatological conditions among the general population by providing a high quality of care for patients utilizing the most medically advanced techniques.Dr. Davis-King is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, where she received her MBBS in Medicine (Hons). She then completed her Rheumatology fellowship in Rheumatology (RCPE) and Specialty Certificate Examination in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Nina Ramessar is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) in New Jersey. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine and then fellowship in Rheumatology at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Brooklyn. She participated in the Lupus Research Institute Teaching Fellows Project, and other trials focused on the management of lupus patients. She has also presented and published work focused on intra-articular steroid injections. In 2019, she received the Michigan State University (MSU) GME Family Medicine Faculty of the Year Award and she continues to support the Michigan Chapter of Scleroderma Research Foundation. Dr.Ramessar has served as a Question Writer, and then Section Chief on the American College of Rheumatology CARE committee.

Dr. Raj Carmona is a rheumatologist and Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at McMaster University in Canada, with both academic and community practices. His clinical interests include all inflammatory arthropathies as well as inflammatory ocular diseases. Dr. Carmona is actively involved in the undergraduate and postgraduate training programs at McMaster. He is the Director of Medical Foundation 4 of the MD Program, and Chair of the Competency Committee of the Rheumatology Training Program. He is a Royal College examiner for the Rheumatology certification examination. Dr. Carmona is the creator of several instructional videos teaching MSK Clinical Skills and Injection Techniques. These are available on his open-access website www.rheumtutor.com and the Rheum Tutor channel on YouTube."

Dr. Cindy Flower is a senior associate lecturer, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus and an associate consultant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados. She is an international fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and a fellow of the American College of Physicians. With the establishment of the rheumatology clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 1997, Dr. Flower was able to establish a registry of rheumatic disease in Barbados with special emphasis on systemic lupus erythematosus. Dr. Flower is on the medical advisory committee of the Hope Foundation of Barbados a non-governmental organization representing patients with lupus and other lesser-known chronic diseases. She was previously the President of the Caribbean Association for Rheumatology.

Dr. Richards completed his medical degree and residency at the University of the West Indies in Kingston Jamaica. His fellowship training in rheumatology was conducted at Georgetown University and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington DC. Dr. Richards spent 14 years as at the Washington DC VA Medical Center then in 2015 accepted a position as the Chief of Rheumatology at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Dr. Richards has been active with Fellowship Education with the University of Pittsburgh where he is a Clinical Associate Professor and has worked at expanding the Fellows training at the VA. His research interests include disparities in osteoporosis screening for men and ethnic minorities, comorbidities in rheumatoid arthritis and more recently Telerheumatology. He also serves on the Food and Drug Administration Arthritis Advisory Committee and the American College of Rheumatology Guidelines Committee.

Dr. Peter Glegg is a General Surgeon and Attorney at Law. He is the Senior Legal Officer at the University Hospital of the West Indies. He is a lecturer at the Normal Manley Law School as well as Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Technology. He has a background in media and is a motivational speaker. Dr.Glegg has presented at numerous conferences in both Jamaica and abroad pertaining to ethical and medico-ethical issues.

Dr. Anishka S. Rolle is a Consultant and the Director of Infusion services at Doctors Hospital and the Bahamas Health and Healing Medical Center in the Bahamas. She earned her medical degree from the University of the West Indies and completed Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship training at Carilion Clinic and Roger Williams Medical Center, Brown University respectively. She is a fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and has ACR certification in Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography. Dr. Rolle is a member of the Association of Women in Rheumatology and is a contributor to Ferri’s Clinical Advisor and The 5-Mintue Consult Clinical Companion to Women’s Health. She is an advocate for promoting community awareness of chronic rheumatic diseases with special emphasis on lupus, and for supporting the expansion of the national drug plan to include specialty medications.

Dr. Aurore Fifi-Mah is a Rheumatologist and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. She works out of the South Health Campus in Calgary. She initially trained as a rheumatologist in Paris, France. She then worked as a clinical assistant in the Rheumatology and Internal Medicine division at the teaching hospitals of Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French West Indies before moving to Calgary. She is also a Canadian board- certified rheumatologist. Dr. Fifi-Mah has an interest in Vasculitis and has established a vasculitis registry in Calgary. She collaborates nationally and internationally in clinical research in vasculitis.

Dr. Nicole Johnson is a clinical pediatric rheumatologist practising at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Alberta Canada since 2004. She is of Jamaican descent and joined the Caribbean Association of Rheumatology in 2015. She is Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. Dr. Johnson received her university education at Canadian Institutions including McGill, McMaster, Queen’s and the University of Toronto. Dr Johnson has been an advocate for community awareness for children with rheumatic diseases. She has volunteered her time to many media appearances to highlight childhood arthritis. In addition, she has a special interest on the subject of transitioning to young adults with chronic rheumatic illnesses to adult health care systems. She has contributed to medical education both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. She also participates in Canadian and international clinical research of childhood rheumatic diseases.

Ahmet R. Sayan, MD, FACC is an actively practicing Board-Certified Cardiologist (Heart Specialist). Originally practicing in New Jersey for more than 14 years, he then relocated to St Thomas, US Virgin Islands in 2018 and currently has offices on both St. Thomas and St. Croix, USVI. Dr. Sayan graduated from Princeton University in 1989 with a degree in Molecular Biology subsequently matriculating to Rutgers Medical School University where he obtained his MD degree in 1993. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia in 1996 and decided to serve in the USAF where he practiced as a Flight Surgeon and Internist for 3 years, being honorably discharged with a rank of Major in 1999. He then decided to specialize in Cardiology and entered his Cardiology Fellowship at Albert Einstein – Montefiore Medical Center in New York where he studied for 3 years finishing his Cardiology Fellowship in 2004 as the Chief Fellow.

Dr. Noelle A. Rolle was born and raised in the Bahamas and is a Board-Certified Adult Rheumatologist practicing in Columbus, Georgia where she also teaches residents and medical students. She went to medical school at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus then completed her residency at Harlem Hospital/Columbia University before serving as Chief Resident at the University of Central Florida. She then completed her studies in Rheumatology at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Rolle is an active member of the American College of Rheumatology where she serves on the Collaborative Initiatives Special Committee and chairs the Image Library Diversity Task Force. She is also involved with the Medical Association of the Bahamas and Georgia Society of Rheumatology and Association of Women in Rheumatology.

Yuri E. Peterkin, MD, was born and raised on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Dr. Peterkin earned a BA in Biology from Johns Hopkins University (2008) and his MD from Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (2012). He completed an internal medicine internship at Howard University Hospital (2013) prior to a diagnostic radiology residency at NYU Winthrop Hospital (2017). Dr. Peterkin then completed a fellowship in musculoskeletal imaging and intervention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2018). Dr. Peterkin returned home to St. Thomas in 2018 and currently practices at St. Thomas Radiology and Schneider Regional Medical Center.

Lisa Christopher-Stine is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Neurology and the Co-Founder and Director of the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center. She serves as the Co-Chair of the Institutional Review Board at the Johns Hopkins University Bayview Campus. She is also one of 24 core faculty members to teach in the Johns Hopkins Medical School Colleges Advisory.As a clinician- scientist, she is the Principal Investigator of the Johns Hopkins Myositis Registry, currently numbering well over 2000 patients recruited worldwide, developed by her and her colleagues. She is the co-chair of an international effort through the OMERACT (Outcome measures in Rheumatology) organization to develop a novel myositis patient reported outcome measure. She also has special interests in autoantibodies in myositis, pregnancy and myositis, and health disparities regarding race in and medical education and the inflammatory myopathies. She has published over 110 peer reviewed scientific papers. She also currently serves as the Deputy Director of Telemedicine in the Division of Rheumatology.

Dr. Claude Cowan is a Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at Georgetown University and a staff ophthalmologist at the Washington, DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He has served as a Director on the Boards of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Board of Ophthalmology, and as the Chairman of the Washington, DC Diabetes Control Program. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the International Eye Foundation and is a reviewing editor for the Journal of Ocular Immunology and Inflammation. He is a member of the Ophthalmological Society of the West Indies and the International Workshop on Ocular Sarcoidosis, and was a collaborator in the National Survey of the Prevalence and Risk Factors of glaucoma in St. Lucia, West Indies. His clinical interests include diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and sarcoidosis.

Dr. Sindu Johnson is a Rheumatologist, PhD Clinical Epidemiologist, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is the Associate Director of the Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research Program at the University of Toronto, as well as, Director of the Toronto Scleroderma Program,where she conducts observational studies and clinical trials in scleroderma (SSc) and SSc-ILD. She has been an investigator in the trials evaluating abatacept, tocilizumab and nintedinib in SSc-ILD. Internationally, she has led collaborations between the American College of Rheumatology and the European League against Rheumatism for the development of classification criteria for systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus, respectively. Both bodies of work have been recognized by the US Food and Drug Administration and now form the inclusion criteria for clinical trials in these areas. Dr. Johnson is the Chair of the American College of Rheumatology Quality of Care Committee and is responsible for overseeing the development of classification and response criteria, clinical practice guidelines and quality measures for rheumatic diseases. Most recently, she has served as a methodologist on the American College of Rheumatology COVID-19 Clinical Guidance Task Force, and American College of Rheumatology COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force.