Dr Lee and I are frequently asked if they can participate in a study. As a result, below are listed research opportunities that you might be eligible to participate in.
One of the most satisfying aspects of our practice is being able to make a difference. Many individuals who we treat for lupus participate in lupus support and advocacy organizations and these efforts are often exhilarating and fulfilling. Our office has had a clinical trials unit since 1994. During that time, many patients have had an opportunity to participate in several of our studies and initiatives. Numerous important findings have resulted from our published findings. These include being one of the first centers to make Benlysta available, receive other ground-breaking drugs including rituximab, epratuzumab, and anti IL-6 agents. Others have helped us improve the search for better biomarkers of disease activity, efforts to find genes that play a role when lupus patients develop specific organ complications, develop apps that correlate patient reported outcomes with inflammatory activity, and several of the metrics of disease activity (BICLA, SRI) were developed at our facility. Our work has appeared in the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine and the top tier rheumatology journals.