Dr. Vina is an associate professor of medicine in the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson and serves as the Division of Rheumatology fellowship program director. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychobiology from UCLA in 1999 and his medical doctorate from the Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin School of Medicine, in 2004. He completed his internal medicine residency at Cedars Sinai Medical Center where he also completed a Health Services Research fellowship. His rheumatology fellowship was completed at the University of Chicago Medical Center in 2011, and he also earned a master's degree in Health Studies. He joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the UA Division of Rheumatology in 2014.
Prior to coming to the UA in 2014, Dr. Vina served as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and as a staff rheumatologist in the Veteran’s Administration Pittsburgh Healthcare System. He was also the core investigator at the VAPHS Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, a VA Center of Excellence.
He is a member of the American College of Rheumatology, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association and the Society for Medical Decision Making.
He has authored numerous publications on racial and ethnic disparities and treatment preferences in systemic lupus erythematosus among other subjects.
Dr. Vina is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology.
Dr. Vina’s research interests include racial disparities in systemic lupus erythematosus, treatment preferences, racial disparities in osteoarthritis, quality of care and health services.
Research Project: Addressing Racial Differences in Osteoarthritis Treatment