COVID-19 and Myositis, live Q&A Webinar
Dr. Lisa Christopher-Stine and Dr. Christopher Mecoli, both with Johns Hopkins Myositis Center, joined MSU on April 1, 2020, for a live Q&A webinar focusing on COVID-19 and Myositis and addressed patient and caregiver submitted questions.
Due to the large number of questions we received, we were unable to get to all questions. However, Dr. Christopher-Stine and Dr. Mecoli have graciously agreed to provide written answers and they are provided below.
COVID-19 and Myositis Resources
Check out resources about COVID-19 and Myositis. We update the page when new information is available.
Written Q&A
Find questions and answers Dr. Christopher-Stine and Dr. Mecoli were unable to answer during the live session due to time constraints.
About Dr. Lisa Christopher-Stine, MD, MDS
Dr. Christopher-Stine is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Neurology and is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center, a multidisciplinary clinic formally established in 2007 on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus and one of the largest, most comprehensive centers of its kind worldwide. Over the past 14 years, she has been involved in clinical research related to idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (“myositis”) and has authored or co-authored over 40 publications.
Dr. Christopher-Stine and her colleagues recently discovered that some statin-related myopathies are, in fact, autoimmune in nature. This discovery is a true example of the excellent collaboration and translational research opportunities at Johns Hopkins that has helped to solve a medical mystery and has benefitted patients directly. In her role as the attending inpatient consult rheumatologist, she investigates a wide variety of autoimmune rheumatic diseases including vasculitis, systemic sclerosis, and lupus. In addition, she serves as a member of The Johns Hopkins Institutional Review Board and enjoys teaching both formally and informally at all levels of medical education from students to fellows to faculty. She takes pleasure in the interplay of her roles as clinician, scientist, and educator.
About Dr. Christopher Mecoli, MD, MHS
Dr. Christopher Mecoli is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Research Operations and Physician Lead for the Myositis Precision Center of Excellence at Johns Hopkins. He is a physician-scientist in the Division of Rheumatology and a member of the renowned Johns Hopkins Myositis Center.
Dr. Mecoli is a graduate of New Jersey Medical School and received a Master’s degree in clinical investigation from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He pursued internship and residency training at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, after which he completed a fellowship in rheumatology at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Mecoli’s research focus includes the association between cancer and myositis, the development of myositis patient-reported outcome measures, and autoantibodies.
Lizzy, We are so glad you feel reassured. It sounds like you are doing the best things for safety and the safety of others. I hope you recover from the cold quickly. Lots of love back to you – and yes, we will get through this together!
Angela, we at MSU at glad you were able to watch the recording to get the information shared. Stay safe and stay tuned for more educational, fun activity, and support video sessions.
Thank you so much for publishing this. Greatly appreciate your time and insight. I feel reassured now that some of my questions have been answered.
Interesting that there were more questions about IVIG – I would have expected more on Imuran/Methotrexate/Pred etc which dramatically alter the immune system.
I have a cold at the moment (not COVID we think) and that is bad enough so would really encourage people to keep distancing, keep staying home when possible, and WASH YOUR HANDS!
Lots of love to the Myositis community – we will get through this together.
thanks for posting the covid 19 webinar i missed it and found it very helpful and informative.