InFocus,Vol.11,No.3,September 2003

      Under the leadership of Scientific Advisory Board Chair Noel R. Rose, M.D., Ph.D., an advisory group has recommended the addition of several outstanding researchers to the Board. We are proud to welcome them and feel very fortunate that, in their coming "tour of duty," we shall have the benefit of tapping into their knowledge and experience in the area of autoimmunity. While AARDA is a national organization, our interest in the international community is evidenced in the several countries represented on our Scientific and Medical Advisory Boards.

      From France, Jean-Fran?ois Bach, M.D., joins us. Professor Bach is Chief of the Immunologie Clinic at H?pital Necker, in Paris. He writes, "I have great respect for your association with which I have already interacted in the past." He adds, "It is my pleasure to accept this invitation."

      Italy is represented by Maurizio Cutolo, M.D., Director for Laboratory Research and Division of Rheumatology, at the University of Genova, in Genova. Professor Cutolo says, "I am very proud for this invitation and I will be happy to contribute to the activity of the Society when required. In addition, it is a real pleasure to join together a large number of scientists already members of the SAB."

      From Germany comes Hartmut Wekerle, M.D., Professor Dr. Wekerle is the Director of the Max-Planck-Institut f?r Neurobiologie, in Martinsried. In accepting AARDA invitation, Professor Wekerle writes, "It is an honor to join this Board, whose Chairman, Dr. Noel Rose, is a true giant in his field. And I am happy to contribute, wherever deemed suitable, my own experience in the field of autoimmune disease. You may know that my expertise is in the field of neurological autoimmunity, i.e., multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and inflammatory muscle diseases."

      Based in the United States is Betty Diamond, M.D., Weinstock Chair and Professor, Microbiology & Immunology and Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York, who indicates that she is glad to serve on the Scientific Advisory Board. From New York as well is Yaron Tomer, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, at the Mount Sinai Medical Center.

      Also joining the Scientific Advisory Board are Caroline Whitacre, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, at the Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio; and M. Eric Gershwin, M.D., The Jack and Donald Chia Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, at the University of California, Davis.

      Dr. Whitacre, whose article on "Increased Interest Being Shown in the Area of Sex Differences in Autoimmune Disease" appeared in the December 2002 InFocus, says, "...I will certainly do what I can to help the organization. I certainly support and believe wholeheartedly in the goals of the association."

      Dr. Gershwin writes, "I am a workaholic, so please do not hesitate to ask for my help. Anything that Dr. Noel Rose is associated with is always first-rate."

      We welcome this fine group of professionals as they join the other outstanding members of AARDA Scientific Advisory Board.

      However, as we say "welcome," we also bid farewell to advisors who are leaving the Scientific Advisory Board or the Medical Advisory Board as they have completed their terms. They willingly joined us in the very beginning, when their faith in AARDA leadership and goals supported this fledgling organization. With our deepest gratitude, we say "thanks for believing." Some of these doctors are now retired while others have gone into other fields or practices.

      Now leaving as Advisors are Ronald I. Carr, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Transplantation & Immunology Research Laboratory, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Duncan E. Govan, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California; Thomas T. Provost, M.D., Professor Dermatology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; Robert Volp?, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, The Wellesley Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Howard L. Weiner, M.D., Robert L. Croc Chair in Neurological Sciences, Center for Neurological Diseases, Brigham and Women Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

      To those joining us...to those leaving us...THANK YOU.