Welcome to Rheumatology
The Department of Pediatrics Section of Rheumatology is an integrated program between Children's Hospital Colorado and
the University of Colorado.
The Section of Rheumatology focus spans the comprehensive care of children, teens, and young adults with a variety of common and rare inflammatory disorders affecting children, including juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, scleroderma, juvenile dermatomyositis, and other immune dysregulation syndromes. Children’s Hospital Colorado is home to the only team of pediatric rheumatologists in the surrounding seven-state region, and receives patients referred by their physicians, health departments, inpatients providers, and by parents, themselves.
More than 5,000 patients are seen annually by the inpatient and outpatient rheumatology providers at the main hospital on the Anschutz medical campus, and at outreach sites including the Colorado Springs, North (Broomfield), and South (Highlands Ranch) campuses.
Leadership
Robert Fuhlbrigge MD, PhD
Professor and Head, Section of Rheumatology
The section of Rheumatology at Children's Colorado diagnoses and treats rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases of childhood, including arthritis, lupus, and vasculitis.
The rheumatology team works closely with the referring physician and other specialists to coordinate care and treat all aspects of a patient's illness.
In collaboration with the Section of Hematology, Oncology and BMT, Dr. Jennifer Soep staffs a multidisciplinary Antiphospholipid Antibody Clinic. Additionally, Dr. Soep, in collaboration with the Section of Nephrology, participates in a monthly combined Nephrology/Rheumatology Clinic to provide comprehensive care to patients with renal manifestations of their rheumatologic condition. Dr. Soep, in collaboration with Dr. Travis Heare in the Department of Orthopaedics, sees patients with Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis (CRMO).
Training for pediatric residents in rheumatology takes place in a single, integrated academic program at University of Colorado Hospital, The Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, and Children's Hospital Colorado.
We have a strong commitment to educating all levels of trainees in pediatric rheumatology. Our faculty teach residents in our busy outpatient rheumatology clinic as part of the Dermatology/Rheumatology elective. We also provide informal teaching sessions on the wards and didactic lectures to the residents and students on common rheumatologic topics. We participate in the musculoskeletal block for the third-year medical students and the rheumatology pathophysiology course for the first-year students at the School of Medicine. We assist in the training of the adult rheumatology fellows from the University of Colorado to provide exposure to pediatrics.
Research on Campus
The CU Anschutz Medical Campus is a nationally recognized leader in the discovery and innovative approaches to improving human health. With research awards and gifts totaling more than $450 million annually, CU Anschutz researchers collaborate with partner and affiliate hospitals, clinics and centers to bring research from the bench to the patient’s bedside. Discoveries on the Anschutz Medical Campus have led to new medical devices, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic methods, treatment of debilitating conditions and improved quality of life for patients and consumers worldwide. Since 2002, CU Anschutz technology has led to the filing of 2,000 patent applications and the formation of 60 new companies, funded by more than $914 million in venture capital and public and private equity investment and grants.
The Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute
The CCTSI is the academic home to help transform the clinical and translational research and training efforts at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and affiliated institutions. The CCTSI was created in 2008 with funding from the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is host to a wide range of Programs and Services supporting research and research training and mentoring, as well as a substantial portfolio of funding opportunities available to trainee and junior investigators.
The Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Initiative (HI3)
is a School of Medicine funded program to develop research infrastructure and provide experimental models for the preclinical testing of new candidate therapeutics, reliable immunotherapeutic production, consistent clinical trials research support, and organized immune monitoring capabilities. The HI3 supports recruitment and training of future scientific leaders within the realm of basic immunology and immunotherapy. The ultimate goal of the HI3 is to establish preeminence in human immune system-targeted therapies on the CU Anschutz medical campus.
The Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS) focuses on the spectrum of outcomes research, encompassing comparative effectiveness, patient-centered outcomes and implementation and dissemination research to guide clinical practice and policy. ACCORDS is organized into five programmatic areas: Dissemination and Implementation Science, Education, Research Training & Mentorship, Practice Transformation, and Community Engagement and Outreach, and also has methodologic cores in Qualitative Methods, Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs), Biostatistics, Patient-Centered Decisions and Mobile Health (mHealth) & Informatics. These cores provide support to the programmatic areas, as well as consultative support to investigators. A major focus of the methodological cores is to provide support for the development of new projects and grant proposals.
Master’s in Public Health
Fellows have the opportunity to pursue a Master’s in Public Health through the University of Colorado Denver. Tuition is not a standard component of fellowship support, but there are a number of support options available through training programs and grants. Many the core public health courses can be taken online, though some courses will require in-person attendance for day or on occasion evening courses. Students have up to 5 years to complete the program.
Further information can be found at the Colorado School of Public Health website.