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August 27, 2021
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Hooked on Rheum with Paul J. Utz, MD

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There were a handful of ways I became interested in rheumatology.

The first was when I was doing research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, in summer 1985. I worked with Pat Bealmear, a former nun who had a PhD in research and immunology and left the clergy to focus on science. It was there that I saw how little we knew about how to transplant someone who has severe combined immunodeficiency. But, maybe more importantly, I saw how it was possible to combine research and patient care.

Paul J. Utz, MD, PhD
Paul J. Utz

The next step came in medical school when I had the opportunity to do some rounds and meet some rheumatologists. They were super nice people. They were happy, and they seemed to have a great balance of work and lifestyle. They showed me that it was possible to form long-term relationships with their patients, which was something I was hoping to build into my practice and my career. Since most of these diseases do not have a cure, you get to spend time and work with patients and their families, and that appealed to me.

Coming back to the intersection between research and clinical care, when I started seeing patients with connective tissue diseases like lupus and scleroderma, it was clear that we did not understand these diseases at all. I made a career-long commitment to answering some questions about those diseases, even if we knew we were not going to solve them.

Unlike cardiology, pulmonology, oncology or many other specialties, rheumatology offers a lifestyle that is well-suited to being a physician scientist. For many rheumatologists, it is very natural to combine these two areas, and that is probably the last thing that drew me to the specialty.

– Paul J. Utz, MD, PhD
Professor of medicine
Division of immunology and rheumatology
Stanford University