Robert Lafyatis
Dr. Lafyatis is a Rheumatologist specializing in the treatment and scientific understanding of systemic sclerosis. He has worked in several areas, studying fibrotic and immune mediators in pathogenesis, identifying biomarkers in serum and skin of disease activity and testing new therapeutics in early phase clinical trials. Most recently he has focused on understanding how innate immunity contributes to fibrosis and vascular injury, developing an animal model for chronic toll-like receptor stimulation on dermal inflammation and fibrosis. In addition he has identified a pattern of gene expression that correlates highly with the modified Rodnan skin score, a 4-gene biomarker for skin disease in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. Dr. Lafyatis co-chairs the biennial International Workshop on Scleroderma Research and is a member of the planning committee for the Scleroderma World Congress. He has recently co-authored a Chapter in the Textbook of Rheumatology on Scleroderma pathogenesis. He is a past member and chair of the Scleroderma Foundation Peer review Committee and was last year given the named the Scleroderma Foundation “Doctor of the Year”. Dr. Lafyatis has been a member of multiple NIH study sections and a reviewer for multiple journals.
