Division of Rheumatology

About the Division

The USC rheumatology and immunology program is historic. Its first chief, George Friou, MD, wrote the first paper on antinuclear antibodies. The original faculty, in the 1960s, included Edmund Dubois, MD, who wrote the first textbook on lupus. Collaborating with them was Samuel Rappaport, MD, who, with Donald Feinstein, MD, (still an active faculty member), first reported the lupus anticoagulant. The divisions of hematology and rheumatology shared an inpatient unit that took up the entire 14th floor of the (old) county hospital, which enabled co-mingling in what was probably then one of the best autoimmune units in the country.

Dubois was asked to start a clinic to follow up on 8 patients who were positive for a new test known as the LE cell preparation. Within 10 years, he had the largest lupus practice in the world, following 500 patients at LA County Medical Center, and published 200 papers, including the first edition of his lupus monograph, Dubois Lupus Erythematosus. His contributions included the first detailed descriptions of autoimmune hemolytic anemia, antimalarial retinotoxicity, avascular necrosis, drug induced lupus, gangrene from vasculitis, a steroid protocol for managing central nervous system lupus, quinacrine for cutaneous disease, cyclophosphamide, establishing the first NZB/NZW (mouse) laboratory in the United States, and the first report on HLA typing in lupus (from, Wallace DJ: Three giants of immunology at USC, prejudice and how I became a rheumatologist. The Rheumatologist, June 2012).

The tradition of Friou and DuBois continued at Los Angeles General Medical Center. They were followed by Frank Quismorio, MD, Rodanthi Kitridou, MD, David Horwitz, MD, and William Stohl, MD, PhD.

Frank Quismorio, MD, came here in 1967, after a fellowship with the legendary Joseph Hollander, MD, at the University of Pennsylvania. Rheumatology at USC, and at Los Angeles General Medical Center, is unique for the Frank’s presence for 45 years. He has provided direction, consistency, and continuity to the rheumatology clinics. His quiet self-effacing dedication, his exceptional clinical acumen, and his commitment to his patients have been a model of excellence for others at the medical center. His encyclopedic knowledge of rheumatology has been the stuff of storied amazement. He displays a special ability to connect with patients, educate them, and help them understand their disease. He now has seen 3 generations of patients in several families. Despite the unfortunately transient nature of Los Angeles General Medical Center patients, more patients return to us than to other clinics because of Frank’s influence. He greets most of the lupus patients and many of the others by name. Patients explicitly ask for him. He often encounters patients around town. He still has notes and card files on all his patients. He still calls them when necessary. He recalls going to patients’ homes when other means of communication failed. He does this because he cares, deeply. These patients “are at the bottom… we are the end of the line… they can’t be seen elsewhere… we are their safety net… they need our help.” Frank is deservedly proud of the many fellows he’s mentored over the years. It’s no surprise that his daughter, Anne, saw patients with him in clinics; she was a recent rheumatology fellow.

Rodanthi Kitridou, MD, came as directress of clinical rheumatology in 1975, retiring in 2005, having previously trained with Dan McCarty, MD, another of the seminal leaders in rheumatology, at Hahnemann, and with Hollander, while Frank Quismorio too was a fellow there; she had directed rheumatology at Hahnemann (now Drexel) for five and one-half years. Rodanthi complemented Frank. She was intense, clinically superb, smart, demanding, “commanding”, and obsessively thorough. Her knowledge of clinical rheumatology was vast and her clinical skills “consummate”. She was deeply devoted to her patients, with an almost maternal dedication. She would not tolerate her students, residents, or fellows not caring as assiduously as she, and woe unto him or her who stinted. She demanded a higher standard. Often was the time when she would seemingly spend hours with a patient, during a busy clinic day, sympathizing, empathizing, and displaying an “amazing” ability to figure out some novel way to help her suffering patients. Her rounds might have seemed interminable to those who didn’t understand. Closure of the rheumatology inpatient unit in 1994, a casualty of changing trends in medicine, disturbed and disappointed Rodanthi profoundly. She, and her patients, perceived the “county” as patients’ “home away from home” and in many instances the only “home” they had. She too cared for generations of patients. She attended patients’ funerals. And weddings. For her “medicine was a privilege, rheumatology a passion”. Her influence was profound. Three decades of fellows are exemplary clinical rheumatologists in large part because of Rodanthi.

Frank Quismorio and Rodanthi Kitridou exemplify rheumatology at Los Angeles General Medical Center and USC but also within the American College of Rheumatology. Their “masterships” reflect their masterly devotion to patients and their masterly pedagogy. They have set the standard for care of patients in our clinics, indeed throughout our medical center and profession. Those students, residents, fellows, and faculty who come to rheumatology clinics know of their rich tradition and try, as Frank and Rodanthi did, to help patients as best they can and make patients’ lives a bit better (from, Panush RS: Rheum With A View: Panush’s Perspectives On Selctions From The Literature. Heroes. The Rheumatologist. December 2011, p 12).
David Horwitz, MD, succeeded Friou, continuing the USC tradition. David, a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago Medical School, trained in medicine at Michael Reese Hospital and in rheumatology at University of Texas Souhwestern with Morris Ziff, MD, PhD (who was one of the first rheumatologists and clinical immunologists and whose program was exemplary). David then went to the University of Virginia School of Medicine to begin his investigative activities on immunoregulation. He has achieved considerable renown, including the signal honor of mastership in the American College of Rheumatology. David has served in numerous leadership roles in rheumatology and immunology and his work has contributed importantly to our understandings of the pathogenesis of rheumatic disease and suggested novel therapeutic approaches.

Our current division chief, is William Stohl, MD, PhD, sustaining the USC tradition. Billy is a graduate of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he also obtained his PhD; he trained in medicine at Barnes/Washington University. He was then was a Research Associate at the Rockefeller University with Henry Kunkel, generally acclaimed as the “father” of clinical immunology. Dr. Stohl, like his eminent predecessors in rheumatology/immunology at USC, is also distinguished and widely respected for his contributions to rheumatology/immunology; he has been recognized and honored (see following) for his investigative excellence, rigor, imagination, insights, and accomplishments while studying the BAFF axis (BAFF, the three BAFF receptors, and the BAFF-related ligand, APRIL) in promoting SLE and as a therapeutic target in SLE. Indeed he played a major role in the development of the first new approved therapy for lupus in 56 years, belimumab.

Our division thus possesses several special strengths. We have a unique history in the evolution of rheumatology. We are comprised of distinguished scientists and prominent leaders in rheumatology and immunology. They are complemented by superb clinician- educators and scholars. We develop and present important new knowledge. We care for uniquely diverse, challenging patients at university and county medical centers in a high quality academic environment. We do this is a collegial manner in a particularly attractive geographic locale.

Selected Fellow and Faculty Honors, Awards and Recognition

• Local, Regional, and National Society Presidencies
• ACR Committee chairmanships and board of directors memberships
• Advisory, Associate Editor, and Editor-in-Chief for major rheumatology and immunology journals
• Local, Regional, National, and International invited lectureships, symposia chairs and participation
• Masterships of the ACP and ACR; award of distinction from ACR
• Awards for outstanding scientific achievement
• Competitive AF, ACR, and NIH research funding awards
• NIH committee and study section participation and leadership
• Selection to membership in distinguished and elite professional societies
• Distinguished Alumni award
• Local, state, and national student, resident, and fellow clinical and research scholarships and preceptorships

Training & Education

The Division of Rheumatology is strongly committed to the education of medical students, house staff, and postgraduate fellows. The curriculum for house staff and fellows is continually updated to reflect new insights into pathogenesis and treatment of rheumatic diseases. To offer our trainees a broad and diverse experience, our training programs utilize Los Angeles General Medical Center, KH, and Rancho. Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA), a USC-affiliated institution, serves as an additional resource for exposure to pediatric rheumatology.

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