FSR expands scientific advisory board to improve research, care
14 new members will bring expertise to foundation's SAB in January
The Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR), a nonprofit dedicated to finding new treatments and improving care for people with sarcoidosis, has nominated 14 new members to its scientific advisory board (SAB), with an aim of further enhancing research and patient care.
The FSR SAB includes world-renowned researchers and clinicians, all of whom provide guidance for the foundation’s scientific priorities and strategies, and ensure its educational materials contain updated scientific information. This team also helps to select the most innovative and promising projects to receive foundation grants.
The new members, who will bring the total SAB to 25 experts, will officially start participating on the board in January 2025.
“Our new scientific advisory board members’ expertise and dedication will be instrumental in advancing our mission to improve patient outcomes and advocate for innovative sarcoidosis research initiatives,” Mary McGowan, the FSR’s CEO, said in a foundation press release. “Their diverse perspectives will help us navigate the complexities of modern medicine and ensure that our efforts remain patient-centered and strategic.”
Scientific advisory board members bring expertise in different areas
Sarcoidosis is characterized by excessive activation of the immune system that leads to the formation of small clumps of inflammatory cells, called granulomas, in various tissues and organs. The disease commonly affects the lungs, but may also lead to skin, eye, heart, and nervous system symptoms.
Currently available treatments mainly aim to relieve patients’ symptoms, prevent tissue damage, and help improve the quality of life of those with the immune system disease. The FSR’s mission is to find a cure.
With guidance from its SAB — which identified important gaps in sarcoidosis research — the FSR has developed a specific scientific research agenda outlining the main areas in which foundation aims to invest, the organization states on its website.
The FSR has identified four main research areas where it plans to use its resources. These include the development of a sarcoidosis model that can be used in research, and a patient registry that’s tracking changes in each patient’s treatments and medical outcomes to boost research efforts. The nonprofit also is helping define ideal measurements for assessing patient outcomes in clinical trials and treatments, and has created a network of medical institutes to collaborate in clinical studies and trials.
We are thrilled and honored to welcome these fourteen dedicated sarcoidosis experts to the SAB. … We look forward to advancing the mission of FSR, and the broad expertise reflected in this expanded advisory board should prove to be quite impactful..
The new and former members of the scientific advisory board are experts in different areas, including pulmonology, rheumatology, dermatology, cardiology, neurology, and genetics. By bringing together people with different expertise, the FSR hopes its board will have a multidisciplinary view on basic, preclinical, and clinical research in sarcoidosis. The goal is for members to work toward a consensus for best addressing patient and research needs.
The new board members are:
- Nicholas Arger, MD, University of California, San Francisco
- Matthew Baker, MD, Stanford University
- Maneesh Bhargava, PhD, University of Minnesota
- David Birnie, MD, University of Ottawa
- Avrom Caplan, MD, New York University
- Jeffrey Gelfand, MD, University of California, San Francisco
- Mridu Gulati, MD, Yale University
- Sotonye Imadojemu MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Jordana Kron, MD, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Courtney Montgomery, PhD, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
- Natalia Rivera, PhD, Karolinska Institute
- Lobelia Samavati, MD, Wayne State University
- Peter Sporn, MD, Northwestern University
- Arthur Yee, MD, PhD, Cornell University and the Hospital for Special Surgery.
Orientation for the new board members begins this month, per the FSR.
“We are thrilled and honored to welcome these fourteen dedicated sarcoidosis experts to the SAB,” said Elliot Crouser, MD, a physician and professor at the Ohio State University and the SAB chair. “We look forward to advancing the mission of FSR, and the broad expertise reflected in this expanded advisory board should prove to be quite impactful.”
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