The Lupus Center of Excellence at West Penn Allegheny Health System, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a comprehensive care center and regional referral center for the treatment and study of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and related disease.
In 2001, Susan Manzi, MD, and Joseph Ahearn, MD, founded Pittsburgh's first center dedicated solely to the treatment of lupus at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In 2010, Drs. Manzi and Ahearn brought their team of experts to West Penn Allegheny Health System, creating a leading center for lupus care that blends comprehensive, personalized care with robust research efforts. The Center's other physicians include medical director Fotios Koumpouras, MD; Amy Kao, MD, MPH; Mary Chester Wasko, MD, MSc; Elliott Goldberg, MD; Angela Stupi, MD; and Anisha Dua, MD.
The Center's physicians and scientists have been instrumental in conducting research to improve lupus diagnosis and treatment practices. Their efforts yielded a new combination of blood tests designed to check for the five biomarkers that can most help physicians rule in the diagnosis of lupus while ruling out related rheumatic disorders. The AVISE-SLE test became commercially available across the United States in early 2012. Physicians from the Lupus Center of Excellence at WPAHS also played key roles in the design and execution of trials for Belimumab/Benlysta, both at the University of Pittsburgh/UPMC and WPAHS. It is the first medication approved by the FDA for the treatment of lupus in more than 50 years.
The Center features a multidisciplinary approach to care, offering a patient concierge to help coordinate medical testing and appointments with various specialists including dermatologists, cardiologists, nephrologists and physiatrists. The center recently recruited a number of rheumatoid arthritis specialists as part of a commitment to expanding its scope to provide care to patients living with rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy tissue. Lupus Center of Excellence physicians also have appointments to advisory committees of the Food and Drug Administration, Alliance for Lupus Research, the Lupus Foundation of America, the American College of Rheumatology and the Arthritis Foundation.
The Lupus Center of Excellence at West Penn Allegheny Health System offers care in four outpatient settings: West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield, Allegheny General Hospital-Federal North Building, Allegheny General Hospital-McCandless, and Cranberry.