Our Team
Washington University
Co-Director
John P. Atkinson, MD
Samuel B. Grant Professor of Medicine,
Molecular Microbiology, and Pathology and Immunology
Division of Rheumatology
Recipient of Washington University School of Medicine Distinguished Service Award and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Lifetime Achievement “Master Physician” Award
Dr. Atkinson’s research team initially discovered and named the disease cerebroretinal vasculopathy (CRV). The name has now been changed to retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy (RVCL).
Co-Director
Andria Ford, MD, MSCI
Associate Professor in Neurology, Department of Neurology 
Dr. Ford co-directs the RVCL research and treatment center. She also is the principal investigator conducting the current clinical trial using crizanlizumab to treat RVCL patients as well as conducting multiple clinical RVCL research studies. She recently published a longitudinal study describing the progressive nature of RVCL in terms of cognitive function and brain imaging
M. Gilbert Grand, MD
Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Kathy Liszewski
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology Division and Clinical Trials Coordinator
Dennis Hourcade, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology Division
Lynne Mitchell
Senior Scientist, Rheumatology Division
Xiaobo Wu, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology Division
Madonna Bogacki
Clinical Research Coordinator, Rheumatology Division
Lorraine Schwartz
Assistant Administrator RVCL Research Center, Rheumatology Division
USA Colleagues
Jonathan Miner, MD, PhD
Associate Professor Medicine, Department of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Joanna Jen, MD, PhD
Senior Faculty Neurology, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York
Rennie Rhee, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Peter A. Merkel, MD, MPH
Chief, Division of Rheumatology, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Epidemiology in Biostatistics and Epidemiology
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nouri Neamati, PhD
Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Michaela U. Gack, PhD
Scientific Director
Cleveland Clinic Florida Research & Innovation Center
Port Saint Lucie, Florida
Marcus Clark MD
Professor of Medicine
University of Chicago
Department of Medicine (Rheumatology)
Chicago, Illinois
Fotini Gounari PhD DSc
Associate Professor or Medicine
University of Chicago
Department of Medicine (Rheumatology)
Chicago, Illinois