This year’s Paul Klemperer Memorial Lecture will feature one of the world’s top researchers in the field of autoimmune diseases discussing the latest insights into the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Virginia Pascual, MD, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, will talk about “Decoding Lupus, One Cell and One Pathway at a Time” on Monday, November 9, from 3:30–4:30 p.m., in West Hall B3-B4, of the Orange County Convention Center. A recording of the session will be available to registered participants of ACR Convergence 2026 for on-demand viewing.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Pascual participate in this year’s ACR Convergence,” said Annual Meeting Planning Committee (AMPC) Chair Gregory Gardner, MD, MACP, MACR. “As an outstanding basic scientist and teacher, she has profoundly impacted our understanding of autoimmune disease. Because she is also a pediatric rheumatologist—and we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of pediatric rheumatology at ACR Convergence this year—having her on the program is both a tremendous learning opportunity for us all and a celebration of the role that pediatric rheumatology has had in our field.”
Dr. Pascual, Director of the Drukier Institute for Children’s Health and the Ronay Menschel Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, is expected to identify the immune cells participating in SLE pathogenesis, describe which cytokine pathways promote inflammation in SLE, and highlight important targets that could lead to the rational design of clinical trials and eventually treatment advances in SLE.
The Drukier lab studies the pathogenesis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases that start in childhood, looking for biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Dr. Pascual also is Program Director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)-funded Autoimmunity Center of Excellence and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)-funded Center for Lupus Research projects.
Dr. Pascual and her team identified the role of dendritic cells and interferon in SLE, and of cytokines such as interleukin-1 (IL-1) in systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), which has led to successful therapeutic interventions in this disease. Dr. Pascual also played an important role in clinical trials using IL-1 blockers in sJIA, which showed clinical benefit in more than two-thirds of trial participants.
The Klemperer Lecture takes place each year to honor Dr. Klemperer’s contributions to rheumatology through the development of the unifying concept of connective tissue diseases.
THERE’S STILL TIME TO JOIN US
If you haven’t registered for ACR Convergence 2026, you can still register on-site at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, through November 11. All registered participants receive on-demand access to scientific sessions through September 30, 2027.
