Faculty Biographies
Course Director Biographies
Alan Baer, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Director, Johns Hopkins University Clinical Practice at Good Samaritan Hospital, Chief of Rheumatology at Good Samaritan Hospital
Dr. Alan Baer is currently Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical Director of the Johns Hopkins University Rheumatology Practice at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1978 and completed his post-graduate medical training in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at the Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt University Hospitals. He was a faculty member at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, from 1986 to 2007, serving most recently as Chief of the Section of Rheumatology and Fellowship Program Director. His research interests are focused on the inflammatory and metabolic myopathies and Sjogren’s syndrome.
Jon T. Giles, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Giles’ research interests are centered primarily within the inflammatory arthritides. Current projects center around understanding the inflammatory and non-inflammatory determinants of body composition abnormalities in rheumatoid arthritis and their subsequent effects on health outcomes. Other current and past research involve the investigation of accelerated atherosclerosis and myocardial dysfunction in rheumatoid arthritis patients, understanding the risks of biologic therapeutic use for patients undergoing surgery, and exploring the musculoskeletal side-effects of a class of medications used to suppress estrogen in women with specific forms of breast cancer. He is the recipient of major grant support from the National Institutes of Health, the Arthritis Foundation, the American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation, and the Arthritis National Research Foundation.
Vicky Ruffing, RN
Nurse Manager, Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center, Johns Hopkins University
Secretary, Rheumatology Nurses Society (RNS)
Vicky Ruffing, RN, has been the nurse manager at the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center since 2000. She divides her time between the clinical and research arena. Vicky is one of the founders of the Rheumatology Nurses Society and presently serves as secretary for that organization. She has a passion for education and has spoken at seminars for patients as well as health professionals. She was a consulting editor for Clinical Care in the Rheumatic Diseases, 3rd Edition for which she received the prestigious President’s Award from the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP). She also authored a chapter in that publication on maintaining intimacy in the presence of arthritis and joint pain.
Vicky continues to serve as a consultant, writer, faculty member, and/or presenter on several continuing education courses for healthcare professionals interested in rheumatology.
Faculty Biographies
Lisa Christopher-Stine, MD, MPH
Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Myositis Center
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Christopher-Stine joined the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology after completing her Rheumatology Fellowship at The Johns Hopkins University in June, 2003. She is the Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Myositis Center. Her research work, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIAMS), centers upon the development of a comprehensive database of patients evaluated at The National Institutes of Health with autoimmune myositis and related diseases. Dr. Christopher-Stine is utilizing her training in epidemiology and biostatistics to develop improved diagnostic and classification criteria for these diseases.
Dr. Christopher-Stine has begun to establish a prospective myositis cohort at Johns Hopkins Hospital to undertake a longitudinal cohort study and initiate future intervention protocols for patients with autoimmune myositis. She is in the process of developing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary center for clinical research in which clinical, serologic, imaging, and pathologic information is collected in a systematic manner, with standardized follow-up at quarterly clinic visits. Additionally, sera will be collected bi-annually, including storage for future studies. The data obtained from the NIH Myositis Database analyses will generate hypotheses from retrospective analyses. These hypotheses can then be directly assessed using this cohort’s prospective design in order to address many compelling questions that remain unanswered because of the lack of an existing cohort such as that proposed. Dr. Christopher-Stine’s other research interest includes the etiology of statin-associated myotoxicity.
She is the current President of The Maryland Society for Rheumatic Diseases (MSRD), a branch of the Maryland Arthritis Foundation. MSRD is a professional organization of rheumatologists and Allied Health Professionals. Dr. Christopher-Stine is a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Barker Firm. She takes pleasure in teaching medical students, residents, and fellows and thoroughly enjoys her role as an educator. Additionally, Dr. Christopher-Stine evaluates patients weekly and takes pride in her clinical role. She welcomes the challenging interplay among her roles of educator, clinician, and research scientist.
Laura K. Hummers, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University
Laura K. Hummers, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Co-Director of the Scleroderma Center at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Hummers received her BA and MD from the University of Rochester. After an internal medicine residency at Jefferson Medical College, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins. She is currently working towards a PhD in Clinical Investigation at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins.
As the primary Investigator, Dr. Hummers is studying Biomarkers of Vascular Disease in Scleroderma. She is also working alongside Drs. Wigley and Hassoun and the pulmonary hypertension team investigating the molecular determinants of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Dr. Hummers is a member of the American College of Rheumatology, the American College of Physicians, and the Arthritis Foundation. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer for a number of medical journals.
Dr. Hummers has authored numerous book chapters and original scientific articles that have appeared in such peer-reviewed journals as Clinical Immunology, Neurology, the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Arthritis and Rheumatism.
Dr. Hummers lectures frequently on scleroderma and lung disease.
Michelle Petri, MD, MPH
Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, John Hopkins University
Co-Director, Hopkins Lupus Pregnancy Center
Dr. Michelle Petri is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lupus Center at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Hopkins Lupus Pregnancy Center. Dr. Petri received her MD from Harvard Medical School. After completing her residence at Massachusetts General Hospital, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Allergy and Immunology/Rheumatology at The University of California at San Francisco.
Dr. Petri serves on multiple editorial boards, as well as, on the Medical Advisory Board of the Lupus Foundation of America.
Philip Seo, MD, MHS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Co-Director, The Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center
Philip Seo, MD, MHS is the Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Vaculitis Center and an Assistant Professor in the Division of Rheumatology. A graduate of Harvard College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, Dr. Seo completed his Internal Medicine training as a member of the Osler Medical Service at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Since then, he has worked at Johns Hopkins in several capacities, including as a hospitalist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, and as an Assistant Chief of Service of the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, before joining the Division of Rheumatology. His research interests focus on the assessment and treatment of the ANCA-associated vasculitides, include the Churg-Strauss syndrome, Wegener's granulomatosis, and microscopic Polyangiitis.
