Georgetown University Medical Center Research Director, Section of Rheumatology Washington Hospital Center 110 Irving Street, NW Washington, DC 20010 Office: (202) 877-8535 To participate in research, call Patrice Thompson at (202) 877-0890 or (202) 877-6274. Dr. Walitt first contacted our support group in the summer of 2008. Since, we hosted two very interesting and provocative lectures by him. We are looking forward to a lecture on CFS/ME in 2012. Several of our members are participating in research with Dr. Walitt. Brian Walitt is a Rheumatologist at Washington Hospital Center. He is actively involved in both clinical and investigative rheumatology. His research foci include chronic pain disorders and the epidemiology of rheumatic disease. He is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology. Training and Education Dr. Walitt completed his medical training at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1998. He completed a categorical internal medicine residency at The George Washington University Hospital in 2001. He completed a clinical fellowship in rheumatology in 2004 and a research fellowship in rheumatology in 2006 at Washington Hospital Center. He completed a master of public health in epidemiology at The George Washington University in 2006. Research Dr. Walitt primarily researches fibromyalgia and the epidemiology of rheumatology. He is considered a national expert on the fibromyalgia syndrome and is an active participant in fibromyalgia research groups such as the National Databank of Rheumatic Disease, OMERACT, and the Cochrane review groups. He has performed several investigator-initiated studies in fibromyalgia using neuroimaging techniques, neuropsychological instruments, gene expression analysis, and cytokine profiles as well as participated in several pharmaceutical trials for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Dr. Walitt is actively recruiting for his ‘The effects of exercise therapy on brain function in fibromyalgia’ protocol which is funded by an American College of Rheumatology Investigator Award. Also, in September 2001, he opened the Fibromyalgia Evaluation and Research Center (FMeRC) to conduct longitudinal research. He has active research collaborations in the field with research labs at Georgetown, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of North Carolina. Dr. Walitt also provides oversight for the rheumatology special interest group of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) through a grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). He initially became involved with investigations into the effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy in rheumatic disease, which was funded by an American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation Clinical Investigator Fellowship Award. As part of that project, he conducted a diagnostic validation of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and osteoarthritis which has enabled investigators nationwide to use the WHI database to answer questions about rheumatic disease. He currently a co-investigator on an ancillary study looking at the relationship between rheumatic serologies, inflammatory cytokines, and health outcomes. His collaborations in the WHI have involved wide-ranging subjects including pesticides, coffee and tea, vitamin D, body morphometry, narcotic medication use, and DEXA. Honors, Awards and Society Memberships He is a fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and a member of the American College of Physicians. He has been awarded multiple honors at the local and national level in recognition of his research, including being named a CHORD fellow, a young investigator of the US Bone and Joint Decade, and a Pfizer Pain Scholar. Meeting Notes Dr. Walitt presented "Fibromyalgia 201" in April 2009 to the Loudoun FM & Chronic Pain Support at Lansdown Hospital in Leesburg, VA. Some information presented included: Web Links for Brian Walitt MD, MPH Dr. Walitt at Work:
Webpages mentioning Dr. Walitt or his work:
Research Articles, Presentations, Comment by Brian Walitt, MD
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