Rheumatology Pediatric Fellowship

Our Rheumatology Division at the Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center is both research and clinically oriented. It has traditionally been rated as one of the top 40 best Rheumatology Divisions. Our research is centered on studies of autoantibodies in connective tissue diseases, pathophysiological mechanisms of synovial pathology, immunogenetics, and clinical research projects. Our Fellowship Program is approved for both pediatric and adult Rheumatology training and is accredited through the American College of Graduate Medical Education. It is a two-to-three year program, depending on the individual’s long term goals.

The Rheumatology Division at Saint Louis University has a patient base of 2,000 adults and 1,200 children with rheumatic diseases. Our outpatient follow-up Clinic at the University includes mainly patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and other connective tissue diseases (CTD). We see about 1,000 new patients per year. These Clinics run six half-days per week and are administered by Terry L. Moore, M.D., Peri Hickman Pepmueller, M.D., Rama Bandlamudi, M.D., and Sona Kamat, M.D. In our children’s clinics, which are overseen by Peri Hickman Pepmueller, M.D., Deborah Wenkert, M.D., and Terry L. Moore, M.D., we see approximately 40 outpatients a week at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and the Saint Louis University Doctors’ Office Building. During the year, about 150 new patients are evaluated. The population consists of over 500 juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), SLE, and other CTD patients. We have the largest children’s arthritis center in St. Louis, the largest in the state of Missouri, and the sixth largest in the country.

Our inpatient service is mainly a consultation service performed at both the Saint Louis University Hospital and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital with about 200 consults per year. Our Division also admits approximately 10 inpatients per year.

Our faculty consists of four full-time members (Terry L. Moore, M.D., Rama Bandlamudi, M.D., Peri Hickman Pepmueller, M.D., and Sona Kamat, M.D.), two part-time faculty members (Jack Zuckner, M.D., the previous Director of the Division of Rheumatology and a Master of the American College of Rheumatology, and Deborah Wenkert, M.D.), one adjunct faculty member (Gideon Nesher, M.D.), and eight Clinical faculty (Drs. Arch M. Ahern, Akgun Ince, Stephen Ross, Terry Weiss, Andrew Baldassare, Carlo Caciolo, John Budd III, and Robert Ramsey). We have four subspecialty resident positions (Fellows) in Rheumatology, usually two first year and two second year. Both the Adult and Pediatric Fellowship entail one-to-two years spent in the laboratory. The Fellowship usually results in at least one Clinical and two laboratory publications during this period.

Our research protocols include clinical and basic research studies. We have three on-going research grants. Our laboratory work centers on studies in immune complexes, antinuclear antibodies, rheumatoid factor, and cellular-mediated problems in JRA, RA, SLE and other CTD. In our laboratory, we have Anil Chauhan, Ph.D., as a consultant, and Jason Low, M.S., working on the projects with our Faculty and Fellows. We have collaborative work with Cliff Bellone, Ph.D. and Harris Pearlman, Ph.D. of the Molecular Biology Department, which includes genetic studies and studies on pathophysiological mechanisms in synovitis in JRA, SLE, and RA. Our Division publishes on the average of 5-10 research and clinical publications per year in major Rheumatology journals and presents usually 3-5 abstracts at National Meetings yearly.

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