About

Biography

As a pediatric rheumatologist and researcher, I specialize in treating autoinflammatory disorders, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), systemic JIA, and complications of systemic JIA such as macrophage activation syndrome and lung disease.

I've always enjoyed working with children and families. I find the passion of parents inspiring and love the energy, humor and honesty of kids. I was drawn to rheumatology because we are asked hard questions, such as how to solve disease puzzles and how to find the best treatments. I also enjoy the long-term relationships with families and patients.

My interest in how the immune system works and how it fails led me to my research. My graduate work was in microbiology and how highly virulent microbes subvert the host immune system. In rheumatic diseases the immune system has become dysregulated to overreact or attack the body itself.

Broadly, I am interested in autoinflammation — how the body’s first line of defense becomes dysregulated in inflammatory diseases. More specifically, my principle interest is in the complications of systemic JIA such as macrophage activation syndrome and systemic JIA-associated lung disease.

My colleagues and I are trying to determine what causes severe complications of autoinflammatory disorders such as systemic JIA, how do we best treat and control hyperinflammation and how can we use novel biomarkers and genomics to direct our treatments.

I was extremely honored in 2018 to receive the Gold Medal Suzanne Dehoche Prize from the Kourir Association, a French organization for families of children with JIA. They present this prize to researchers whose work is most likely to lead to new treatments for juvenile arthritis. This was an amazing recognition of what we hope to do: Use genomics techniques to accelerate treatments.

MD: University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, 2009.

PhD: University of Iowa Department of Microbiology, Iowa City, IA, 2009.

Residency: Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.

Fellowship: Pediatric Rheumatology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.

Certification: Pediatrics, 2012; Pediatric Rheumatology, 2017.

Interests

Pediatric rheumatology; juvenile idiopathic arthritis; macrophage activation syndrome; autoinflammatory syndromes; periodic fevers

Services and Specialties

Rheumatology, Lupus, Rare Lung Diseases

Interests

Systemic JIA; macrophage activation syndrome; innate immunity; monocyte and macrophage functions; whole exome sequencing

Research Areas

Rheumatology

Insurance Information

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Publications

New developments related to lung complications in pediatric rheumatic disease. Rai, S; Schulert, GS; Towe, C. Current Opinion in Rheumatology. 2023; 35:273-277.

Increase in pediatric recurrent fever evaluations during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in North America. Mansfield, LM; Lapidus, SK; Romero, SN; Moorthy, LN; Adler-Shohet, FC; Hollander, M; Cherian, J; Twilt, M; Lionetti, G; Mohan, S; et al. Frontiers in Pediatrics. 2023; 11:1240242.

Childhood-Onset Lupus Nephritis in the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance Registry: Short-Term Kidney Status and Variation in Care. Smitherman, EA; Chahine, RA; Beukelman, T; Lewandowski, LB; Rahman, AK M F; Wenderfer, SE; Curtis, JR; Hersh, AO; Abel, N; Abulaban, K; et al. Arthritis Care and Research. 2023; 75:1553-1562.

OP0166 LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP OF PATIENTS ADMINISTERED EMAPALUMAB, AN ANTI–INTERFERON-Γ MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY, TO TREAT MACROPHAGE ACTIVATION SYNDROME (MAS) SECONDARY TO SYSTEMIC JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS (SJIA). De Benedetti, F; Grom, A; Brogan, P; Bracaglia, C; Pardeo, M; Marucci, G; Eleftheriou, D; Papadopoulou, C; Schulert, G; Quartier, P; et al. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2023; 82:110-111.

POS0278 EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF SECUKINUMAB IN JUVENILE IDIOPATHIC ARTHRITIS: INTERIM RESULTS FROM THE EXTENSION OF THE JUNIPERA TRIAL. Ruperto, N; Foeldvari, I; Alexeeva, E; Aktay Ayaz, N; Schulert, G; Özen, S; Popov, A; Ramanan, A; Scott, C; Sozeri, B; et al. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2023; 82:379.2-37380.

Efficacy and safety of emapalumab in macrophage activation syndrome. De Benedetti, F; Grom, AA; Brogan, PA; Bracaglia, C; Pardeo, M; Marucci, G; Eleftheriou, D; Papadopoulou, C; Schulert, GS; Quartier, P; et al. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2023; 82:857-865.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Early Career Investigators in Rheumatology: Recommendations to Address Challenges to Early Research Careers. Kuhn, KA; Stahly, A; Konig, MF; Carandang, K; Herndon, C; Backman, C; Callahan, LF; Schulert, G; Fraenkel, L; Ogdie, A. Arthritis Care and Research. 2023; 75:947-955.

Lung Ultrasound in Children With Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease. Vega-Fernandez, P; Ting, TV; Mar, DA; Schapiro, AH; Deluna, MD; Saper, VE; Grom, AA; Schulert, GS; Fairchild, RM. Arthritis Care and Research. 2023; 75:983-988.

Can Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Be Managed in the Outpatient Setting? An EHR-Based Cohort Study From the RECOVER Program. Jhaveri, R; Webb, R; Razzaghi, H; Schuchard, J; Mejias, A; Bennett, TD; Jone, PN; Thacker, D; Schulert, GS; Rogerson, C; et al. Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 2023; 12:159-162.

Disease Recapture Rates After Medication Discontinuation and Flare in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: An Observational Study Within the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance Registry. Ringold, S; Dennos, AC; Kimura, Y; Beukelman, T; Shrader, P; Phillips, TA; Kohlheim, M; Schanberg, LE; Yeung, RS M; Horton, DB; et al. Arthritis Care and Research. 2023; 75:715-723.

From the Blog

Aggressive Screening Needed to Detect sJIA Lung Complication
Autoimmune Disorders

Aggressive Screening Needed to Detect sJIA Lung Complication

Grant Schulert, MD, PhD, Alexei A. Grom, MD10/29/2019

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