Dr. Jan Lin, a resident physician in the UCLA Department of Rheumatology, received a fellowship from the Southern California Chapter of the Scleroderma Foundation to study the development and new treatments for this disease. She is the first person to receive this important two-year fellowship.

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease that causes excess collagen to collect in the skin, joints, blood vessels and internal organs. The skin hardens and sometimes can affect organ function. Up to 700,000 people in the United States, mostly women, suffer from the disease.

UCLA's Department of Rheumatology is one of the nation's leaders in research and treatment of scleroderma. Lin will work directly with Dr. Daniel Furst, researcher Ram Raj Singh and Dr. Philip Clements in patient care, clinical trials and laboratory research.

"We are very pleased to receive this fellowship," said Dr. Bevra Hahn, professor and chief of rheumatology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Dr. Lin's work will help contribute to our greater understanding of scleroderma and bring new insight to treatments."

Lin will analyze data from a recent National Institutes of Health-sponsored clinical trial at UCLA exploring whether an immunosuppressive drug used in chemotherapy called "cyclophosphamide," or Cytoxan, may help reduce or prevent lung damage from scleroderma. More than 40 percent of patients develop symptomatic lung problems, the leading cause of death for this patient population.

UCLA will soon begin a new clinical trial for scleroderma using a drug to treat leukemia called "Gleevac," which inhibits the growth of abnormal white blood cells. This drug also decreases a growth factor that may worsen scleroderma.

In both trials, Lin will look for biological markers of the disease that may help predict which patients may benefit from these drugs.

Lin received her medical degree from the Capital University of Medical Sciences in Beijing, a master's degree in psychology from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D in physiology and neuroscience from Michigan State University. After finishing her internship and residency training in internal medicine at Texas Tech University Health Science Center, she worked in the Naval Health Research Center Toxicology Detachment as a project scientist in toxicology.

The Scleroderma Foundation is a national nonprofit organization providing support for people with scleroderma. The foundation promotes education through public awareness campaigns and professional seminars, and supports more than $1 million in research annually.

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