SRF Webinar Series

The SRF Webinar Series is a free service to help patients, physicians, family members, friends and others in the scleroderma community to better understand scleroderma. Our 2012 Webinars will feature guest speakers ranging from experts in the research community to leading physicians who treat scleroderma patients. Webinars will be broadcast live and also recorded for later viewing on the SRF website.

Each SRF Webinar will last approximately one hour. A question and answer session will be available via chat functionality at the conclusion of each presentation. Webinars are free for all participants but require online registration, Internet access and a telephone (for audio). A toll-free number will be provided for U.S. and Canadian attendees.

Webinar #4 - click here to view the webcast

Presented: April 25, 2012 11:00 AM PST
Speaker: Fredrick Wigley, MD
Title: Scleroderma: A Complex Vascular Disease

The fourth in our series Dr. Fredrick Wigley focuses on how scleroderma affects our bodies – with specific emphasis on the vasculature, or blood vessels. The webinar explores the signature scleroderma symptom of Raynaud’s Phenomenon and other vascular aspects of the disease; looking at signs, symptoms, treatments and other disease management tools.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Wigley is a Professor of Medicine and Founder/Director of the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center. He received his MD degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine and completed an internship and residency at Johns Hopkins where he also trained in a postdoctoral fellowship program. He is a physician-scientist leading one of the nation’s pre-eminent centers focused on scleroderma research and treatment. Dr. Wigley’s research focuses on the events that cause scleroderma and on its signs and symptoms. He is testing new treatments for both Raynaud’s phenomenon and scleroderma. Under Dr. Wigley’s direction, the Hopkins Center has attracted more than 2,000 patients from around the world and sees more than 300 new patients a year. Currently, more than a dozen scleroderma research studies (basic science, clinical trials and epidemiology) are underway. Studies at other research and medical institutions also involve physicians and researchers from The Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center. Dr. Wigley and his team are finding answers and continue to use the evidence to reach their ultimate goal of finding a cure for scleroderma.

A compassionate physician with a unique understanding of the challenges of scleroderma, Dr. Wigley provides support and hope for patients and their loved ones. View the SRF video Moving Forward featuring Dr. Wigley.

Webinar #3 - click here to view the webcast

Presented: February 10, 2012 9:00 AM PST
Speaker: Antonios Aliprantis, MD, PhD
Title: Understanding Scleroderma Research: A Look Inside the Toolbox

The third in our series of live webinars. Dr. Aliprantis takes participants on a tour inside the toolbox researchers use to better understand this complex disease.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Aliprantis is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Rheumatology Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School. He received his MD and PhD from New York University School of Medicine in 2001 where he studied innate immunity and microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Arturo Zychlinsky. His internal medicine training took place at Bellevue Hospital and, in 2003, Dr. Aliprantis came to BWH for his rheumatology fellowship. Dr. Aliprantis completed his post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Laurie Glimcher at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) where he developed an interest in bone biology and the autoimmune disease scleroderma. In 2009, he was recruited to the Rheumatology Division at BWH to lead an independent research program where his team pairs mouse genetics with translational human studies to investigate multiple rheumatic diseases including scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Dr. Aliprantis has been working with the Scleroderma Research Foundation since 2006. Along with Dr. Glimcher, he is the recipient of the Foundation's Actelion Research Award made possible from a generous grant from Actelion Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Aliprantis is also the recipient of two prestigious career development awards: the American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Investigator Award and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists. Dr. Aliprantis is also the Director of the Osteoarthritis Center at BWH and is an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease at HSPH. He lives in Natick, MA with his wife Kim and their two daughters, ages 4 and 1.

Webinar #2 - click here to view the webcast

Presented: December 15, 2011 9:00 AM PST
Speaker: John Varga, MD
Title: Accelerating Scleroderma Research Toward a Cure

The second in our series of live webinars. Dr. Varga, a leader scleroderma researcher and physician at Northwestern University, discusses the history of scleroderma research, the present state and what the future holds.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Varga is an internationally recognized expert in the diagnosis, treatment, and study of scleroderma. He is the Director of the Northwestern Scleroderma Program and the John and Nancy Hughes Professor in the Division of Rheumatology. Among numerous professional distinctions, he chairs the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of the Scleroderma Foundation and is also a Scleroderma Research Foundation-funded research investigator. Since 1998, he has served on various National Institutes of Health Study Section panels. He was recognized as one of 50 "Heroes" of the Arthritis Foundation and was the Scleroderma Foundation's "Doctor of the Year" in 2006.

Dr. Varga is leading high-impact basic and clinical research, and directs an NIH-funded research laboratory at Northwestern. A prolific researcher and author, he has published more than 160 original research articles, along with 60 review articles, multiple book chapters, and three books on fibrosis and scleroderma. His most recent book Scleroderma: From Pathogenesis to Comprehensive Management was authored along with SRF-funded investigators Drs. Christopher Denton and Fred Wigley. He serves on numerous editorial boards and has mentored 20 clinical and research fellows.

Dr. Varga’s lab research focuses on fibrosis and tissue repair. Fibrosis and aberrant tissue repair are prominent in autoimmune diseases (scleroderma, myositis, lupus) and in organ-based disorders (pulmonary fibrosis, glomerulosclerosis, hypertrophic scar), and are considered intractable. Aberrant tissue regeneration also underlie aging and obesity. Fibrosis contributes to 30% of all deaths worldwide, and thus represents a compelling and urgent scientific challenge. Dr. Varga, along with his team believes that fibrosis is in fact potentially reversible. Their research takes a "systems-biology" multi-disciplinary approach to fibrosis, utilizing human tissue, DNA, serum, animal models and cell biology studies to identify and validate novel targets for therapy, discover genetic risk factors and useful biomarkers. The ultimate goal is to translate these discoveries into clinically relevant approaches.

Dr. Varga received his medical degree from NYU. He completed postdoctoral training as an intern and resident at Rhode Island Hospital, and a fellowship at Boston University Medical Center.

Webinar #1 - click here to view the webcast

Presented: October 20, 2011 9:00 AM PST
Speaker: James R. Seibold, MD
Title: Progress and Promise in Scleroderma Clinical Research

The first in our series of live webinars Dr. James Seibold, Principal Member of Scleroderma Research Consultants, LLC presented "Progress and Promise in Scleroderma Clincal Research" which focused on clinical trials and their role in advancing the search for improved therapies and a cure.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Seibold was most recently Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut, USA. He had previously served on the faculty of the University of Michigan from 2004-2010 as the Marvin and Betty Danto Research Professor of Connective Tissue Research and Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and as the founding Director of the University of Michigan Scleroderma Program.  He joined the faculty at Michigan in August of 2004 after 24 years at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. He served as Chief of the Division of Rheumatology; Director of the Clinical Research Center; and Chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology during which he occupied the William H. Conzen Chair of Clinical Pharmacology.

The author of more than 300 scientific publications, Dr. Seibold has served on the editorial boards of both Arthritis & Rheumatism and the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, and as editor of the scleroderma section of the Yearbook of Rheumatology, Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disease and Editor-in-Chief of Scleroderma Care and Research. He is currently an Editor of Scleroderma Care and Research and on the Editorial Boards of Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology and the International Journal of Rheumatology.

His major research interests include systemic sclerosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, clinical trial design, and drug development in rheumatology. Dr. Seibold has led or been a key participant in nearly every major interventional trial of scleroderma since 1980 and currently serves as the Lead International Investigator on DETECT, a series of studies of oral treprostinil for digital ulcers and the Scleroderma QuERI.

Dr. Seibold has been cited in The Best Doctors in America continuously since the first edition in 1994 and has won numerous awards, including the Arthritis Foundation's Physician of the Year. He is the founder and a past President of the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium and active in several patient organizations, including the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, the Scleroderma Research Foundation, and serves as Chair of the Medical Advisory Board of the International Scleroderma Network.

Dr. Seibold received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, and his medical degree from SUNY at Stony Brook School of Medicine in Stony Brook, NY. He completed postdoctoral training as an intern and resident in internal medicine at Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY, and a fellowship at the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, PA. He is a Fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Physicians.