Kristen Demoruelle MD, PhD

Background 

Kristen Demoruelle, MD, PhD, received her BS from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, her MD from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson, MS and her PhD from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Demoruelle currently sees patients in the Rheumatology Clinic at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. In recognizing that women are disproportionately and uniquely affected by autoimmune diseases, she is inspired to better understand the immunologic differences between women and men that contribute to higher prevalence and worse outcomes in women. The goal is to have clinical care and treatments that more effectively improve the health outcomes of women with autoimmune disease.  

Research + Funding 

In 2014, Dr. Demoruelle received the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) award, and in 2021, the COVID-19 relief supplement grant. Her most recent research project was titled, “Oral Contraceptive Pill Use and Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation in RA and Cardiovascular Disease Risk.” Her research recognizes that women develop rheumatoid arthritis more often than men, and excessive neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) formation has been linked to rheumatoid arthritis and the increased cardiovascular disease risk associated with the disease. In addition, studies have found that birth control pill use lowers a woman's risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, but the mechanism for this protective effect remains unknown. For her study, she evaluated the effect of birth control pill use on levels of NETosis in premenopausal women with and without rheumatoid arthritis. This has the potential to lead to a novel understanding of how birth control pills can modulate the disease and cardiovascular disease risk in women with rheumatoid arthritis.   

Dr. Demoruelle values the Ludeman Center's mentorship opportunities, support for the next generation of researchers, and engagement with the community, so that the importance of sex differences and women's health research can be amplified.  

Transforming Women’s Health

Her current research priority is understanding mucosal involvement in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis, with a particular focus on lung and genital tract inflammation, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, development of RA-associated autoantibodies and sex differences in the earliest steps of the disease's development.