Advances in Rheumatoid Arthritis 2024: From Bench to Bedside
Session moderated by Lekshmi Santhosh

The gut microbiome plays a fascinating role in the treatment of rheumatic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this Grand Rounds, our speakers will highlight the impact of the gut microbiome on therapeutic efficacy, and how gut bacteria metabolize drugs and influence the body's autoimmune processes. They will also discuss how insights gleaned from the gut microbiome and the pathogenesis of RA can be harnessed to find novel therapeutic targets that could revolutionize treatment for RA and other diseases.

Speakers:
Jonathan Graf, MD, is a professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at ZSFG. He co-founded the UCSF Rheumatoid Arthritis Observational Cohort and is the director of C-STAIR, the Center for the Study of Advanced Immunotherapeutics in Rheumatic Diseases. The center specializes in collaborating on early-phase clinical trials to study novel therapies to treat different rheumatic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis.  

Renuka Nayak, MD, PhD, is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at SFVAHCS. She uses her unique backgrounds in Biology, Computer Science, and Clinical Rheumatology to investigate the role of the human gut microbiome in the treatment of RA, using a combination of patient specimens, microbiology, next generation sequencing, and mouse models to better understand how our microbiome influences health and disease.