Newswise — John D. Reveille, M.D., director of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunogenetics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, has been elected president of the Pan American League of Associations of Rheumatology (PANLAR), which represents the national rheumatology societies in 21 countries with a combined membership of 11,600 rheumatologists.
“My job as president is to enhance the understanding and treatment of rheumatic diseases among rheumatologists in countries as far south as Argentina and as far north as Canada,” said Reveille, whose term extends through April of 2014.
PANLAR was founded in 1943 to advance the care of people with rheumatic diseases, as well as to support research into the family of disorders associated with inflammation in muscles or joints. It is connected with wear and tear and immune system malfunctions.
Reveille’s administrative duties include overseeing the national society meetings in each country, as well as managing grants awarded by PANLAR to promote research into rheumatic diseases. He will also coordinate the opening of a PANLAR office in Atlanta, where the American College of Rheumatology is headquartered.
Reveille is internationally recognized for his research into arthritis of the spine, a condition called ankylosing spondylitis. He has published studies in scholarly journals on this disease, which is associated with curvature of the spine.
At the UTHealth Medical School, he is the director of the Frank C. Arnett, M.D., Center for Autoimmunity and Immunobiology, the Linda and Ronny Finger Foundation Distinguished Chair in Neuroimmunologic Disorders and the George S. Bruce Jr., Professor in Arthritis and other Rheumatic Diseases. He is chief of rheumatology at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.
Countries represented in PANLAR are: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
RSS