Anca Askanase, MD, MPH

Dr. Askanase is the founder and director of the Columbia University Lupus Center and the Director of Rheumatology Clinical Trials. She is an internationally renowned clinician, diagnostician, and researcher with more than 20 years specializing in complex systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Dr. Askanase trained as a rheumatologist at New York University, where she remained for more than 15 years on faculty, directing clinical trials, training fellows and residents, and treating challenging SLE cases before moving to her current position at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Askanase’s academic career has focused primarily on patients with SLE and other autoimmune diseases. In addition to authoring numerous publications and her involvement in benchmark clinical trials, Dr. Askanase is a member of several major international consortia aimed at providing the collaboration between lupus doctors needing to improve outcomes and therapies in lupus: the SLICC (SLE international Collaborating Clinics), the LNTN (Lupus Nephritis Trial Network), and the Lupus Clinical Investigators Network (LuCIN). One of her most rewarding experiences was her involvement in the studies that led to the FDA approval of belimumab, anifrolumab, and voclosporin. Dr. Askanase is also involved in the development and testing of new SLE outcome measures, telemedicine outcomes, new imaging methods for lupus arthritis, and interventions to improve clinical trial participation for disparate population as ways to improve the care and outcomes of lupus patients.