Co-Directors
John P. Atkinson, MD
Professor of Medicine and Molecular Microbiology
Samuel B. Grant Professor in Clinical Medicine
Recipient of Washington University School of Medicine Distinguished Service Award and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Lifetime Achievement “Master Physician” Award. Atkinson’s research team initially discovered and named the disease cerebroretinal vasculopathy (CRV) whose name has now been changed to retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy and systemic manifestations (RVCL-S).
Andria Ford, MD, MSCI
Professor of Neurology and Radiology
Section Head of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases
Andria Ford co-directs the RVCL-S research and treatment center. She also is the principal investigator conducting the current clinical trial using crizanlizumab to treat RVCL-S patients as well as conducting multiple clinical RVCL-S research studies.
Lynne Mitchell
Senior Scientist, Rheumatology
Lorraine Schwartz
Assistant Administrator
National colleagues
Michaela Gack, PhD
Scientific Director
Cleveland Clinic Florida Research & Innovation Center, Port Saint Lucie, FL
Fotini Gounari, PhD, DSc
Associate Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Joanna Jen, MD, PhD
Senior Faculty Neurology, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Peter A. Merkel, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology in Biostatistics
Chief, Division of Rheumatology
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Jonathan J. Miner, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director of the RVCL Research Center
University of Pennsylvania
Rennie Rhee, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA