Scleroderma and vasculitis specialist Alicia Rodriguez-Pla, MD, PhD, MPH, has joined the University of Arizona Division of Rheumatology faculty.
Dr. Rodriguez-Pla serves as a clinical assistant professor of medicine in the division, one of 14 in the UA Department of Medicine, the largest department in the UA College of Medicine – Tucson. She also is a member of the UA Arthritis Center.
Dr. Rodriguez-Pla earned her medical degree from the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, and went on to rheumatology training at the Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Hospital Malalties Reumàtiques, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. She then earned her doctorate from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, working in translational and epidemiological research on giant cell arteritis, also known as temporal arteritis.
Her longstanding interest in vasculitis, a swelling of arteries that decreases blood flow and can cause fever, fatigue, weight loss and muscle and joint pain, led her to pursue post-doctoral training in the United States, from 2003 to 2007, as a visiting post-doctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Rodriguez-Pla gained further experience in translational research in vasculitis and had the opportunity to see many patients with the disorder. During her last two years at Johns Hopkins, she was funded through a Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC)/Vasculitis Foundation (VF) fellowship. She also received a master’s in public health degree at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2007.
After practicing as a clinical rheumatologist in Spain, she returned to the United States at the end of 2008 and worked in lupus research at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in Dallas. She has devoted the last five years to complete a clinical fellowship in rheumatology at Boston University and residency in internal medicine at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Mass.
She has authored several case reports and research papers, primarily related to autoimmune conditions.
Dr. Rodriguez-Pla sees patients at Banner – University Medical Center South at 2800 E. Ajo Way, Suite 103, and at Banner – University Medicine North at 3838 N. Campbell Ave. To schedule an appointment, please call (520) 694-8888.
About the UA Arthritis Center
The University of Arizona Arthritis Center, a center of excellence at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, is a research leader with a focus on identifying the causes of arthritis and developing improved diagnosis, measurement and treatment of the disease. Learn more at: arthritis.arizona.edu
About the UA Department of Medicine
The University of Arizona Department of Medicine is one of six original departments and the largest at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, with 14 divisions covering medical subspecialties from cardiology to rheumatology. The faculty includes more than 250 physicians who help train more than 70 fellows in 18 fellowship programs, 130 residents in internal medicine and dermatology, and 450 medical students engaged in clerkships, sub-internships and research opportunities. Affiliated with UA institutes and centers of excellence and collaborative cohorts across the nation and world, the department’s investigators are leading research into development of personalized precision medicine therapies for both simple and complex diseases to improve the lives of people in Arizona and abroad. Learn more: deptmedicine.arizona.edu
About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs approximately 4,000 people, has approximately 800 faculty members and garners more than $140 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram)