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

Implementation study of the CARRA Uveitis Consensus Treatment Plans: feasibility for clinical practice and applicability for research. Chang, MH; Barbar-Smiley, F; Akoghlanian, S; Drew, J; Angeles-Han, ST; Quinlan-Waters, M; Bohnsack, JF; Cooper, AM; Edelheit, B; Twachtman-Bassett, J; Stern, S; Sterba Rakovchik, Y; Stephens, A; Steigerwald, K. Pediatric Rheumatology Online Journal. 2024; 22:88.

S100 proteins as potential predictive biomarkers of abatacept response in polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Brunner, HI; Schulert, GS; Sproles, A; Thornton, S; Cornejo, GV; Antón, J; Cuttica, R; Henrickson, M; Foeldvari, I; Kingsbury, DJ; Lovell, DJ; Martini, A; Ruperto, N; Grom, AA. Arthritis Research and Therapy. 2024; 26:125.

National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel: Perspectives and Lessons Learned. Gulick, RM; Pau, AK; Daar, E; Evans, L; Gandhi, RT; Tebas, P; Ridzon, R; Masur, H; Lane, HC; Aberg, J; Uyeki, TM; Waghmare, AA; Wolfe, CR; Yazdany, J. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2024; 177:1547-1557.

Safety and efficacy of tofacitinib for the treatment of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: preliminary results of an open-label, long-term extension study. Brunner, HI; Akikusa, JD; Al-Abadi, E; Bohnsack, JF; Boteanu, AL; Chedeville, G; Cuttica, R; De La Pena, W; Jung, L; Kasapcopur, O; Liu, S; Martini, A; Lovell, DJ; Ruperto, N. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 2024; 83:1561-1571.

New discoveries in the genetics and genomics of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Correia Marques, M; Ombrello, MJ; Schulert, GS. Expert Review of Clinical Immunology. 2024; 20:1053-1064.

Safety and effectiveness of abatacept in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: results from the PRINTO/PRCSG registry. Lovell, DJ; Tzaribachev, N; Henrickson, M; Simonini, G; Griffin, TA; Alexeeva, E; Bohnsack, JF; Zeft, A; Horneff, G; Vehe, RK; Costanzo, D; Rennebohm, R; Waugaman, B; Brodus, E. Rheumatology. 2024; 63:SI195-SI206.

Comparative Effectiveness of a Second Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitor Versus a Non-Tumor Necrosis Factor Biologic in the Treatment of Patients With Polyarticular-Course Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Mannion, ML; Amin, S; Balevic, S; Chang, ML; Correll, CK; Kearsley-Fleet, L; Hyrich, KL; Beukelman, T; Aamir, R; Abulaban, K; DeSantis, E; Devine, R; Dhalla, M; Dhanrajani, A. Arthritis Care and Research. 2024; 76:1090-1098.

Disease Course, Treatments, and Outcomes of Children With Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis-Associated Lung Disease. Huang, Y; Sompii-Montgomery, L; Patti, J; Pickering, A; Yasin, S; Do, T; Baker, E; Gao, D; Abdul-Aziz, R; Behrens, EM; Ting, T; Grom, AA; Towe, C; Schulert, GS. Arthritis Care and Research. 2024; 76:328-339.

The 4th NextGen therapies for SJIA and MAS: part 2 phenotypes of refractory SJIA and the landscape for clinical trials in refractory SJIA. Schulert, G; Vastert, SJ; Grom, AA. Pediatric Rheumatology Online Journal. 2024; 21:87.

Part 5: Allogeneic HSCT in refractory SJIA with lung disease; recent cases from centers in North America & Europe. Grom, AA; Canna, SW; Abu-Arja, RF; Sinha, R; Peixoto, L; Cannizzaro, E; Chandrakasan, S; Driest, K; Marsh, R; Neven, B; Schulert, G; Silva, JM F; Wall, D; Zeilhofer, U. Pediatric Rheumatology Online Journal. 2024; 21:86.

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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