Who are we?

Our dedicated team of doctors and staff are committed to ensuring the highest quality care for patients. Our doctors are attending physicians and full time faculty members at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. All are Board Certified in Rheumatology. Other members of our Scleroderma Center include a clinical nurse, and several research and patient care coordinators and medical assistants who assist in the care of our patients.

Physicians and Faculty

Fredrick Wigley, M.D.

• Physician-Scientist
• Director of The Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center
• Professor of Medicine

Dr. Wigley received his M.D. degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine.  He completed an internship and residency at Johns Hopkins where he also trained in a postdoctoral fellowship program.

Dr. Wigley is a physician-scientist whose specialty is Raynaud’s phenomenon and scleroderma. He founded The Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center with Robert A. Wise, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins Division of Pulmonary Medicine.

Dr. Wigley’s research focuses on the events that cause scleroderma and on the signs and symptoms of scleroderma. He is testing new treatments for Raynaud’s phenomenon and scleroderma.

Laura Hummers, M.D.

• Physician-Scientist
• Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center
• Assistant Professor of Medicine
  

Dr. Hummer earned her M.D. degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry.  She completed her internship and residency at Thomas Jefferson University and a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins.
 
Dr. Hummers is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on properties of blood that could help predict outcomes for patients with scleroderma.  She is also interested in understanding the natrual course of the disease and developing new treatment for scleroderma.  She has a special interest in a rare disease called scleromyxedema.

Francesco Boin, M.D.

• Physician-Scientist
• Instructor of Medicine
  

Dr. Boin received his M.D. degree from Italy’s University of Padova Medical School.  He completed his internship and residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and a post-doctoral fellowship in rheumatology at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Boin is interested in Translational Research:  studies that use basic research technology to focus directly on patients’ clinical disease.

Dr. Boin’s research focuses on the cellular biology of scleroderma. He is hoping to identify reliable labratory tools that can help investigate the causes of scleroderma; effectively measure disease activity and help predict clinical outcomes in scleroderma patients.

Staff

Regina M. Greco, R.N., B.S.N.
Regina Greco is the clinical nurse/program manager at the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center. Ms. Greco is responsible for all daily clinical operations, including management of clinical staff and assisting physicians with patient care. Her involvement with patients, families, and physicians is critical to the clinical operations of the Center. 

 

 

 

Tyria Doggett
Tyria Doggett is a medical office coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center. Ms. Doggett manages new patient referrals, patient scheduling, prescriptions, medical disability forms, patient clinic activities, and clinical office operations.

Brandy Miles
Brandy Miles is a medical coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center.  She is responsible for patient scheduling, patient clinic activities, communication with patients and referring physicians, filing, prescriptions, medical records, and clinical office operations.

 

 

 

Kandice Moore
Kandice Moore is The Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center clinical secretary.  She is responsible for medical records, maintenance of clinic charts, communications, and mailings.

 

 

 

 

 

Pam Hill
Pam Hill is administrative coordinator for Dr. Fredrick M. Wigley and the other physicians at the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center.  She oversees physician scheduling and administrative functions such as grant proposals, coordination of meetings, ordering supplies, and other administrative matters.

Research Coordinators

Cynthia Eberwein

Cynthia Eberwein is the Clinical Research Coordinator at the Center.   She is responsible for organizing and managing clinical research projects, interacting with sponsoring companies, supporting clinical researchers and interacting with other members of our research team.

 

 

 

 

Adrianne Wood
Adrianne Wood is research data manager at the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center. Ms. Wood manages the research database used for clinical and epidemiological research.  She also organizes clinical research projects.

Emily Calvert
Emily Calvert is a research assistant who is responsible for data entry into the database, providing additional help for clinical projects and maintenance of research materials.  She also assists the research coordinator.

 

 

 

 

Tanya Moore
Tanya Moore is a research assistant who is responsible for obtaining blood samples and other patient materials, processing, storing and transporting clinical samples for research purposes.  She also assists the research coordinator.

 

 

 

 

 

SPECIALISTS

The Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center is proud of its association with excellent physicians and scientist who are experts in treating the various conditions that occur in patients with scleroderma.  In the earliest days of the Center, Dr. Wigley turned to colleagues from throughout Johns Hopkins, asking them to lend their expertise. As a result, patients at The Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center have the comfort of knowing they are in the hands of this group of extraordinary physicians.

Robert Wise M.D.

• Pulmonologist
• Professor of Medicine

Dr. Robert Wise is an expert in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  He and Dr. Wigley have worked together since the 1970s to advance the understanding of lung diseases in patients with scleroderma and in developing new treatments of scleroderma lung disease.

Hunter C. Champion, M.D., Ph.D.

• Cardiologist
• Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr. Champion specializes in detecting early signs of heart disease in patients with scleroderma so that effective treatments can be started.  He is an active member of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at Hopkins and does research into the causes and treatment of heart disease in scleroderma.

Paul M. Hassoun, M.D.

• Pulmonologist

• Associate Professor of Medicine
• Director of the Johns Hopkins Pulmonary Hypertension Center

Dr. Hassoun uses state-of-the-art approaches to treating scleroderma patients who develop pulmonary hypertension and, is now the Director of an NIH funded research program investigating the cause and treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension in scleroderma.

Robert Spence, M.D.

• Plastic surgeon

• National Burn Reconstruction Center, Good Samaritan Hospital

Dr. Spence is a plastic surgeon and wound care expert.  He has more than two decades of experience handling the many soft tissue complications of scleroderma including digital ulcers, deformity of the fingers, leg wounds and soft tissue deposits of calcium.

Jonathan B. Orens, M.D.

• Pulmonologist
• Medical Director of Lung Transplantation
• Professor of Medicine

Dr. Orens has helped make Johns Hopkins one of the few places in the world where lung transplantation is considered for patients with scleroderma.

Derek M. Fine, M.D.

• Nephrologist
• Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr. Fine is an experienced kidney specialist who understands scleroderma and how the  kidneys can be involved.  He helps diagnose and manage complex kidney disease in scleroderma patients.

Jennifer A. Haythornthwaite, Ph.D.

• Behavioral Psychologist
• Professor
• Director of the Behavior Medicine Clinic

Dr. Haythornthwaite is among the first to study the effects of scleroderma-related changes in physical appearance on patients’ social interactions.  She also studies pain and depression associated with chronic illness.

Sangeeta Sule, M.D.

• Pediatric Rheumatologist
• Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr. Sule is fully trained in both pediatrics and adult medicine.  She is a full time pediatric rheumatologist with a special interest in childhood onset systemic sclerosis and localized scleroderma.

John O. Clarke, M.D.

• Gastroenterologist
• Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr. Clarke has a special interest in swallowing disorders, esophageal disorders, gastrointestinal reflux disease, and motility disorders.

Mack Mitchell, M.D.

• Director of Gastroenterology, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
• Associate Professor of Medicine

Dr. Mitchell has interest in colon disease and complex cases of scleroderma bowel disease.

James J. Sciubba, DMD, Ph.D.

• Dental and Oral Medicine
• Professor of Medicine

Dr. Sciubba, past director of the Johns Hopkins Division of Dental and Oral Medicine has a special interest in Sjögren’s syndrome and the oral complications of scleroderma.

Scott Lifchez, M.D.

• Plastic Surgery
• Assistant Professor

Dr. Lifchez has a special interest in hand reconstruction and microsurgery involving the hand.

Affiliated Physicians

Kwas Huston, M.D.

• Rheumatologist
• Instructor of Medicine
  

Dr. Huston earned his M.D. degree from Yale University School of Medicine, followed by an internship and residency at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a post-doctoral fellowship in rheumatology at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Huston now is an Affiliated physician who is in practice at Kansas City, Missouri.  He has an interest in the care of patients with scleroderma.