Do Enzymes Called Matrix Metalloproteinases Play a Role in GCA?
Phillip Seo, M.D., MHS Assistant Professor of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Division of Rheumatology Co-Director, The Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium Co-Investigator It is a great pleasure to introduce Dr. Rodriguez-Pla to the members of the VF community. Dr. Rodriguez-Pla was recruited to the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology by Dr. John Stone, who was the Director of the Vasculitis Center at that time. Her research interests have focused on the etiopathogenesis of giant cell arteritis, which is the most common form of primary systemic vasculitis in the United States. In collaboration with Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, she has been given access to multiple preserved temporal artery specimens obtained from patients suspected of having giant cell arteritis. These specimens served as the basis of an early project looking for evidence of an infectious etiology for this disease. Dr. Rodriguez-Pla’s more recent re
