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Introducing Our 2020-2021 VCRC-VF Fellow: Kinanah Yaseen, MD

Kinanah Yaseen, MD, was awarded the 2020 Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC)-Vasculitis Foundation (VF) Fellowship. She is currently a junior faculty member in the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases at Cleveland Clinic. Her interests involve all forms of vasculitis, especially small vessel vasculitis including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, IgA vasculitis, cutaneous vasculitis, and drug-induced vasculitis.

“The practice of vasculitis combines the best aspects of medicine,” Dr. Yaseen said. “It is challenging and intriguing in terms of diagnosis and therapy because of its multi-system approach.” She also finds it motivating and rewarding when it comes to leaving a positive impact on someone’s life.

Dr. Yaseen’s research has looked at long-term renal outcomes in hydralazine-induced vasculitis. Hydralazine is a commonly used drug for treatment of high blood pressure and it has been reported to cause a medication-induced form of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody vasculitis. In another study, she evaluated the correlation between patient-reported outcomes and disease activity measures in patients with GPA. She was also co-investigator in a study on recurrent rate of venous thromboembolic events in patients with GPA.

Through the support of the VCRC-VF and her mentors, Dr. Yaseen feels her knowledge and skills in managing different forms of vasculitides expanded dramatically. She also gained an appreciation of the vasculitis literature. “I was introduced to a wide variety of diagnostic modalities and different ways of treating vasculitis of all levels of severity in the inpatient and outpatient settings,” she said. “And being part of a multidisciplinary team has provided a great learning opportunity.”

Originally from Syria, Dr. Yaseen earned her medical degree from the University of Tishreen School of Medicine in 2010. After moving to the US, she began her three-year internal medicine training at Fairview Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, which she completed in 2018. She was a chief resident during her last year of training. After completing a rheumatology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic in 2020 she began a one-year clinical vasculitis fellowship at the Cleveland Center for Vasculitis Care and Research during which, she was awarded a VCRC-VF fellowship.

“I will continue to be engaged in managing and treating patients with different vasculitides in addition to teaching general practitioners about recognizing, diagnosing and caring for patients with systemic vasculitis,” Dr. Yaseen said. “In terms of future research, I have a special interest in IgA vasculitis and plan on conducting a study to look at long-term outcomes with different immunosuppressive therapies.” It is Dr. Yaseen’s long-term goal to join the faculty at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. She has initiated a vasculitis journal club with colleagues in that region to enhance discussion about the latest innovations in vasculitis.

Carol Langford, MD, MHS, FACP, served as the director of Dr. Yaseen’s vasculitis fellowship with mentorship from Rula Hajj-Ali, MD, Alexandra Villa-Forte, MD, MPH, and other members of the Cleveland Clinic vasculitis center. “It was a great pleasure for us to train Dr. Yaseen during her vasculitis fellowship” Dr. Langford said. “Her interest caring for people with vasculitis was evident at a very early point in her rheumatology training. We have been grateful for the support that Dr. Yaseen received from the VCRC-VF during her vasculitis fellowship. This support is so critical to advancing our collective mission to develop experts who will go onto provide care to those with vasculitis and become valuable partners in research efforts. Our team at Cleveland Clinic has great confidence that Dr. Yaseen will be a wonderful contributor to the vasculitis community and we look forward to having her as a colleague for many years to come.”

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