Leonard H. Calabrese, DO, joins Healio.com/Rheumatology as Consulting Medical Editor

Healio.com/Rheumatology welcomes Leonard H. Calabrese, DO, as its new Consulting Medical Editor.

Calabrese, an internationally known rheumatologist, educator and researcher, is a professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. He is also the R.J. Fasenmyer Chair of Clinical Immunology; the Theodore F. Classen, DO, Chair of Osteopathic Research and Education; and the Vice Chairman of the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases for the Cleveland Clinic. He heads the Cleveland Clinic’s Section of Clinical Immunology and manages its Clinical Immunology Clinic.

Leonard H. Calabrese

“I have been involved in rheumatology education for several decades. It is a great honor and privilege to be able to help interpret advances in rheumatic immunologic diseases,” Calabrese said of becoming the Consulting Medical Editor for Healio.com/Rheumatology. “For my colleagues, I think trying to keep pace with advances in medicine in general — rheumatology and immunology in particular — is extremely challenging. If I can be a lens to help clarify certain select areas of work, then I consider it a privilege.”

Advances in rheumatology

Calabrese said clinical rheumatologists have many unmet needs, including the challenge of keeping up with advances in basic translational and clinical rheumatology.

“The field of basic rheumatology has moved with a lightning pace. People out of a training program for only a few years can often feel lost and lack confidence in understanding significant parts of rheumatic literature, as well as advances that require thinking about pathophysiology, immunodiagnostics, biomarkers, innovative therapies, especially biologics and beyond,” Calabrese said. “I am going to try to put that into perspective to help fill those types of gaps.”

As current standards of disease management change rapidly, his goal for Healio.com/Rheumatology is to focus on and interpret the research, guidelines and breakthroughs can help rectify knowledge gaps.

Therapy and immunodiagnostics

Calabrese’s specialty interests include vasculitis, hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS and the rheumatic aspects of viral infections, especially central nervous system vasculitis, opportunistic and viral infections, and rheumatic diseases. He also is interested in the safety, biologics and pharmacology of rare adverse events.

“I always considered myself a clinical rheumatologist. I have been very lucky to practice both rheumatology as well as clinical immunology taking care of primary and secondary immunodeficiency diseases and, at the same time, have appointment with the Department of Infectious Diseases,” he said.

According to Calabrese, the future is very bright in terms of what is being brought to the table in terms of therapy, monitoring and immunodiagnostics research.

“The challenge is we live in what has been referred to as a ‘garden of earthly delights,’ meaning we have so many therapies for many pathways that we need more comparative effectiveness data,” he said. “We are often the first physicians treating large populations with targeted therapies to new, mechanisms, immunologic mechanisms. We need to be both critical of efficacy data and vigilant of ensured long-term safety data as they come into clinic.” – by Kristine Houck, MA, ELS

Disclosure: Calabrese reports he is a consultant for Genentech, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Jansen and Abbvie; and is on the speakers bureau for Genentech, Abbvie and Bristol-Myers Squibb and Crescendo Bioscience.