Advancing Excellence in Rheumatology: UPMC's Myositis Fellowship Program and Unique Myositis Training Opportunity

The Myositis Fellowship Training Program at UPMC is built on a long-standing tradition of academic excellence. The training is based in the UPMC Myositis Center under the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology. The program is dedicated to preparing the next generation of rheumatology leaders for impactful careers in academic medicine, industry, and clinical practice.

UPMC is currently one of the only health systems in the United States that hosts a Myositis Fellowship Program. This fellowship offers a unique and unparalleled program for specialized training in myositis and related inflammatory muscle diseases. This fellowship program is categorized as non-standard training as stipulated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

The Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology is comprised of distinguished faculty and internationally recognized experts, providing fellows with mentorship and guided learning opportunities. In addition, the Myositis Fellowship Program benefits from strong collaboration with the Neuromuscular Diseases component of the Department of Neurology led by David Lacomis, MD, and the Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease at UPMC led by Daniel J. Kass, MD.

Fellows benefit from diverse clinical training across a range of settings and can gain experience in managing patients with a wide spectrum of myositis and associated rheumatic conditions.

Faculty within the Division with longstanding research programs related to myositis include:

• Chester V. Oddis, MD, director of the UPMC Myositis Center, who has nearly 40 years of experience in treating myositis patients and a research program focusing on the epidemiology, clinical features, autoantibody correlations, and treatment of inflammatory myopathy.
• Rohit Aggarwal, MD, MS, co-director of the UPMC Myositis Center and director of the UPMC Myositis Fellowship Program, who specializes in myositis and associated interstitial lung disease, with a strong emphasis on clinical and translational research, including clinical trials.
• Dana P. Ascherman, MD, division chief and professor of Medicine, who investigates the roles of both innate and adaptive immunity in the pathogenesis of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy.
• Siamak Moghadam-Kia, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Medicine, who has studied the clinical features of dermatomyositis patients possessing a novel autoantibody and its association with interstitial lung disease and survival.

Additional expert physicians practicing within the UPMC Myositis Center are Vladimir Liarski, MD, and Tanya Chandra, MD.

“The UPMC Myositis Fellowship Training Program is the first of its kind in the nation, providing fellows with an unmatched opportunity to specialize in inflammatory muscle diseases. It is an honor to work alongside my colleagues and help train future leaders who will advance both clinical care and research in this vital area of medicine,” says Dr. Aggarwal.

For fellowship application information, please send CV and Statement of Interest to Monique Dowdy, C-TAGME at dowdymm2@upmc.edu.

Learn more about the Myositis Fellowship Training Program at UPMC and view the GME Benefits and Stipends.