Writer’s block: when you want (or have) to write something but the words just won’t come to you. It could be for a school paper, a business report, a personal story, a speech, or a simple social media post, but it happens to all of us. We think. We…

The Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) is partnering with Walgreens and Cedars-Sinai to provide free N95 face masks at two locations in Los Angeles, with the goal of helping members of the community protect their lungs following January’s wildfires. Exposure to fine particulate matter from soot and ash in…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a prefilled syringe version of purified Cortrophin Gel (repository corticotropin injection) as an add-on treatment for people with symptoms of sarcoidosis. Sold by Ani Pharmaceuticals, the original vial format of Corticotrophin Gel received FDA clearance in 2021 to treat…

Note: This column discusses an upcoming FDA-NIH Rare Disease Day event, which planned to bring together members of the rare disease community with healthcare providers, researchers, lawmakers, and more at the NIH main campus in Bethesda, Maryland. That event has since been postponed. Stay tuned for further announcements. There’s a…

I recently came across a blog post on MedPage Today titled “A Letter to Patients with Chronic Illness.” Although it was written nearly 15 years ago, it’s as relevant today as it was then, revealing oft-obscured insight into the frame of mind of our doctors. Its author, “Dr. Rob,” shares…

Along with so many others around the world, I’ve spent the past two months utterly obsessed with the movie version of “Wicked.” I saw it on the big screen (twice), read the book (again), and bought the digital version just minutes after it became available. I’ve watched it…

Oops, I did it again/ I fell on the floor/ I’m in so much pain/ (Oh baby, baby)/ Now my arm’s in a cast/ Let’s hope it’s the la-a-a-ast/ I’m not that confident (sigh).  Kerry is always coordinated, even with her cast. (Courtesy of Kerry Wong) That’s how that…

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…

Two early-career scientists each were awarded $150,000 Sarcoidosis Research Fellowship grants from the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) to support projects that aim to investigate the causes of sarcoidosis and improve patient outcomes. The fellowships were awarded to Greer Waldrop, MD, PhD, at the University of California,…

A 30-year-old man with renal cell carcinoma — a type of kidney cancer — developed sarcoid-like reactions in his spleen, liver, and lungs, which went away after the tumor’s removal, suggesting that such reactions arose from an unusual immune response against the tumor. The man’s case was described in a…