During the annual ACR business meeting at 2:30 pm Tuesday in Moscone South Esplanade, Room 304, Joan M. Von Feldt, MD, MSEd, will be installed as the 79th President of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). Also during the meeting, current Treasurer Sharad Lakhanpal, MBBS, MD, will become president-elect, and Paula Marchetta, MD, MBA, will be confirmed as treasurer. Joel Block, MD, Gary Firestein, MD, Edward Herzig, MD, MACR, and David Karp, MD, PhD, will be confirmed as the newest members of the ACR board of directors.
Joan M. Von Feldt, MD, MSEd
Dr. Von Feldt, Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and her medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed her fellowship in rheumatology and also received a master’s of science in education from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Von Feldt is a clinician with recognized regional and national expertise in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis and has an active clinical research focus. Additional areas of research include health literacy and medical education. She has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, editorials, and book chapters. She is associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous other publications.
Dr. Von Feldt has served on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) as well as the ABIM Council, and was chair of the ABIM Subspecialty Board on Rheumatology from 2010-2014. She was secretary general of the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) from 2005-2007 and treasurer of the Pan American League of Associations for Rheumatology (PANLAR) from 2010-2014.
Dr. Von Feldt devotes significant time to educational activities at the Perelman School of Medicine as a senior member of the curriculum committee, and is course director for an undergraduate medical course, Introduction to Clinical Reasoning, a pre-clerkship course for medical students. In addition, she has also served as the rheumatology specialty liaison for the internal medicine residency program and program director for the rheumatology training program.
An active volunteer with the ACR, Dr. Von Feldt has served on the board of directors and the Committee on Education. Dr. Von Feldt has been recognized by Best Doctors in America and Philadelphia magazine.
Sharad Lakhanpal, MBBS, MD
Dr. Lakhanpal is a senior rheumatologist with Rheumatology Associates in Dallas and clinical professor of Internal Medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He is also an investigator at Metroplex Clinical Research Center in Dallas, where he has participated in hundreds of clinical drug trials, including several as principal investigator.
Dr. Lakhanpal received his medical education at King George’s Medical College, University of Lucknow, India, where he was awarded several gold medals and awards for excellence. Among others, these included the Raja Shankar Sahai of Maurawan Gold Medal for being the Best Sportsman Student of Lucknow University and the H S Bhatnagar Memorial Trophy for being the Best Sportsman Student of King George’s Medical College. He completed residency in internal medicine at the Memorial Hospital, University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., and performed rheumatology training at the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn.
Dr. Lakhanpal is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the ACR. He is an International Editor for International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases. He serves on the Editorial Review Panel of medical journals, including the Annals of Internal Medicine and the Journal of Rheumatology. Dr. Lakhanpal has published more than 110 publications, including book chapters, original articles, and abstracts.
Dr. Lakhanpal has received the American Rheumatism Association Senior Rheumatology Scholar Award, the Philip Schowalter Hench Scholarship Award at Mayo Clinic and Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, and the American Rheumatism Association Fellows Award. He was recognized as an Excellent and Effective Teacher in Rheumatology and in Infectious Diseases at the Mayo Medical School. He was honored by the Greater Dallas Indian American Chamber of Commerce with its Award for Outstanding Contributions in Medicine, Science, and Technology. He received the Indian American Friendship Council’s Recognition of Excellence award. He was named Alumnus of the Year for 2004 by his alma mater, King George’s Medical College, University of Lucknow, India. He has been listed in the Best Doctors in America since 1996 and was named a Texas Super Doctor.
Dr. Lakhanpal has held several leadership positions. He currently serves as treasurer for the ACR and the Rheumatology Research Foundation, and also chairs the Foundation’s Committee on Finance. He was on the Board of Directors of the ACR from 2010–2013 and was chair of the ACR Government Affairs Committee from 2007-2010. He was chair of the ACR’s Task Force for Quality Recognition Program and Co-Chair of the International Task Force and the 2013-2016 Strategic Planning Task Force. He has served on various other committees of the College.
He was founder chair of the Rheumatology Society of North Texas and initiated the Texas Rheumatology Association. He has served as president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, which is the largest ethnic medical association in the U.S. and represents more than 60,000 physicians of Indian origin in the United States. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Arthritis Foundation (North Texas) and on the Medical Advisory Board of the Lupus Foundation of America (Dallas). He has also served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.
On a personal note, Dr. Lakhanpal has run a marathon in under three hours. He played basketball for his high school, medical college, and university. He is an avid tennis player and enjoys traveling.
Paula Marchetta, MD, MBA
Dr. Marchetta is the CEO and managing partner of Concorde Medical Group PLLC, a multi-specialty private group practice affiliated with NYU Langone Medical Center with 45 physicians located in nine offices throughout midtown and lower Manhattan. Dr. Marchetta maintains an active rheumatology practice and continues to teach at NYU School of Medicine, where she has a faculty appointment as clinical associate professor of medicine. She has received several Teacher Recognition Awards throughout her years of service. Dr. Marchetta has also been recognized as a Top Doctor by Castle Connolly and U.S. News & World Report and has been consistently named to New York magazine’s Best Doctors list and to the New York Super Doctors list published in a special section of the New York Times Sunday magazine.
Dr. Marchetta graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Fordham University with a degree in English. She stayed on at Fordham to complete her Master’s degree in English before attending medical school. She earned her MD from NYU School of Medicine, where she was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. She went on to internship and residency in internal medicine at NYU-Bellevue Hospital, where she was chosen to serve as Chief Medical Resident. She stayed on at NYU for fellowship in rheumatology at the combined Bellevue/Hospital for Joint Diseases program, where she also was chosen as Chief Fellow.
With her greater management responsibilities, Dr. Marchetta decided to pursue an MBA, which she received from The George Washington University School of Business in 2009. In 2010, she completed an intensive Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School in Managing Health Care Delivery. She serves on several boards, including the Board and Executive Committee of University Physicians Network, LLC, which is the NYU physician-run IPA; the Board and Executive Committee of NYUPN Clinically Integrated Network LLC, which she chairs; and the Executive Committee of the Medical Board of NYU Langone Medical Center. Dr. Marchetta has served on the Finance Committee and the Board of Directors of the ACR.
David Daikh, MD, PhD
Dr. Daikh is the rheumatology division chief at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and director of the rheumatology fellowship program at UCSF. He is beginning his second year of a two-year term as secretary of the ACR and the Rheumatology Research Foundation.