Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Diseases

The Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Diseases alleviates that suffering by providing patients with immediate, clinical care to improve the day-to-day quality of their lives and by conducting significant research to find the causes and cures of rheumatic diseases. The Center houses the Rheumatology Reproductive Health Program at HSS, which offers counseling and care to rheumatology patients with respect to contraception, fertility and pregnancy concerns. Specialists also work within and in conjunction with the Lupus and APS Center of Excellence.

The first center of its kind in the United States, the Barbara Volcker Center was established by a gift in honor of Barbara Volcker. The center brings together scientists, rheumatologists, orthopedists, endocrinologists and obstetrician/gynecologists under one umbrella. Women with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, antiphospholipid syndrome, and scleroderma, are able to get the best medical care by a team of appropriate advisors. Issues such as mobility challenges, chronic pain, pregnancy, and osteoporosis are addressed. And, as is uniquely true at HSS, doctors, who see patients daily, work side-by-side with scientists, who in their laboratories seek ways to improve women's lives now and find a long-term cure.

Research

Main research interests of the Barbara Volcker Center include sex differences in disease, clinical aspects of lupus, antiphospholipid syndrome, and pregnancy in autoimmune diseases. A new topic of interest is the characterization of undifferentiated, overlapping, and other atypical forms of autoimmune disease. The center has both national and international collaborations with researchers all around the world on these topics.

For current Barbara Volcker Center projects, you can visit the HSS Clinical Trials listing. For recent publications of the Barbara Volcker Center, you can see the PubMed listing.

Director Emeritus: Michael D. Lockshin, MD

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