Dr. Ellen Ginzler Honored with Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology
Nov 16, 2015
Brooklyn, NY – Ellen M. Ginzler, MD, MPH, distinguished teaching professor and chief of rheumatology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, was honored with the Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology at the organization’s recent annual meeting in San Francisco. The award is given to a clinical scientist making outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology.
Dr. Ginzler is an internationally known expert on lupus nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys that affects many people suffering from lupus. As principal investigator of a U. S. Food and Drug Administration Orphan Products Program grant to assess the efficacy and tolerability of two drug treatments for lupus nephritis, she headed the largest multicenter, investigator-initiated trial of its time for the disease. The results, published as the lead article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2005, changed the paradigm for treating lupus nephritis.
Dr. Ginzler is a master of the American College of Rheumatology and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and was a long-time member of the Board of Governors of the New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation. She has been an active participant in the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics and the Lupus Clinical Trials Consortium, both organizations devoted to studying outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus and promoting new therapies for managing the disease.
In 2012, Dr. Ginzler received the Lupus Foundation of America's Evelyn V. Hess Award, presented annually to a clinical or basic researcher whose body of work has advanced the understanding of the pathophysiology, etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, or treatment of lupus.
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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.