In a collaboration designed to encourage professional relationships between junior and senior rheumatologists, and promote rheumatology around the globe, the ACR, the Indian Rheumatology Association (IRA), and the Pan American League of Associations for Rheumatology (PANLAR) have partnered to support the International Visiting Fellows Exchange Program. See Sunday’s Daily News or go to www.acrconvergencetoday.org to learn more about this program.
Ignacio Gandino, MD, is currently in the second year of a rheumatology fellowship at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dr. Gandino studied medicine at the Buenos Aires University, completed a residency in internal medicine, and became chief resident and clinical instructor at the Juan A. Fernandez Hospital in the same city. It was during this period that Dr. Gandino recognized a deep interest in vasculitis, SLE and other autoimmune conditions in the universe of immunology. Dr. Gandino has published articles on autoimmune diseases in various Latin American magazines and presented at several medical conferences in Argentina. He plans to use this opportunity to further both his research interests and clinical skills.
Sonal Mehra, MBBS, completed her training in internal medicine at BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, India—Asia’s largest hospital. It was there that Dr. Mehra developed a keen interest in rheumatology and began to identify a growing interest in the molecular aspects of rheumatologic disorders, especially SLE. Dr. Mehra was admitted to the JIPMER rheumatology program and in 2012 was selected for a nine month research fellowship under Dr. Marvin Fitzler at the University of Calgary, Canada. To date Dr. Mehra’s major research work has been on autoantibodies and she boasts 11 international indexed publications. Dr. Mehra hopes to use this fellowship experience to enhance her understanding of lupus at the molecular level and explore the challenges of managing of psoriatic arthritis.