Request Expert

Expert is a Board-Certified Rheumatologist (additionally with Boards in Internal Medicine). He possesses extensive experience and expertise in Immunology as well.

Expert's official title is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine and Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He is also self-employed.

Appropriately, in this time of pandemic, he is very knowledgeable -- and has discussed with a number of colleagues -- regarding the actual and potential effects of the COVID-19 viral pandemic on current and future medical care and drug utilization.

Though he spends the majority of his time in Private Practice (80%), Expert holds a dual academic appointment (Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine) with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He regularly lectures on diagnosis and treatment paradigms regarding New Drug Therapies, Rheumatoid Arthritis, SLE, Gout, Osteoarthritis, Fibromyalgia, Biosimilars, Pain Therapies, and other topics, to Rheumatology Fellows and Internal Medicine Residents.

Expert is considered a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) in Gout, as well as several other Rheumatological diseases.

Expert's academic appointment also gives him extensive exposure and access to clinical trials of various medications without the confidentiality restrictions of being directly involved. He is well aware of not providing ANY information that is not publicly available.

Expert has been, and is still very involved with, both local and regional treatment guidelines for many of the Rheumatological and Immunological diseases. He specifically avoids direct involvement in clinical studies, in order to avoid any possibility of conflict of interest or confidentiality restrictions. He has assisted in the design of Clinical Studies and Speaker Decks in the past, but no longer does so. He has no current confidentiality or Conflict of Interest restrictions.

Expert is a member of a major metropolitan Hospital's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee for the past 15+ years. Decisions are made for a 900-bed hospital as well as for associated outpatient clinics, which frequently sets precedents for many other local and regional hospitals and clinics, including both Academic and private facilities, because of its outstanding reputation.

With an extensive network of contacts in academia, high-level physician practices, and more "middle America" practices, Expert frequently solicits input from these contacts to obtain a more comprehensive and extensive view of various drugs, such that he is able to provide more complete information about various drugs and their potential utilization than any single physician.

In addition to evaluating drugs, clinical trials, etc., from an academic viewpoint, Expert is able to assess the potential for drug utilization from 3 different practice perspectives.

Because his private practice main office is in a “major metropolitan medical Mecca” (West Los Angeles-Beverly Hills, CA), where Expert also teaches part-time (15% of my time) as an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA and Cedars Sinai Medical Center, and have a satellite office in an area best described as rural/suburban (Antelope Valley), that is more reflective of “middle America,” Expert has the opportunity to observe the very different practice and prescription patterns between these two areas, for Primary, Specialty, and Sub-Specialty Physicians, as well as extensive exposure to the "Academic Environment" prescription patterns as the Supervising Attending Physician at an Academic Hospital Outpatient Rheumatology Clinic.

Areas of Subspecialization and Special Interest:
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Diagnosis and Treatment
New modalities and therapeutic regimens for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Gout and Hyperuricemia
Diagnosis and Treatment
Newer medications in the treatment of Gout
Osteoarthritis
Classification, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Newer modalities and therapeutic regimens for osteoarthritis
Fibromyalgia
Diagnosis and treatment, underlying etiology
Newer modalities and therapeutic regimens for Fibromyalgia
Systemic Lupus Erythematosis
Diagnosis and Treatment
Innovative therapies for the treatment of SLE
Collagen Vascular Diseases (Polymyositis, Dermatomyositis, MCTD, etc.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Innovative Therapies
Seronegative Spondyloarthropathies
Diagnosis and Treatment
Newer modalities in the treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis and Psoriatic Arthritis
Musculo-Skeletal Disorders
Duypuytrens Contracture
Tendonitis, epicondylitis, bursitis
New Drug Development in Rheumatology and Immunology
Immunologic Pathways, intra- and extra-cellular (Cytokines, JaK, SyK, STAT, etc.)
Steroid sparing agents
Selective Glucocorticoid Receptor Agonists (SEGRA/SGRM)
Pain Management
Newer therapeutic options
Biosimilars
Development of FDA & EMA (European Union) Guidelines
Genomic Medicine
Diagnostic and Therapeutic Biomarkers

Expert has served as an advisor and provided expert consultation for a number of investment and venture capital firms regarding specific drug products and pharmaceutical companies, and has advised pharmaceutical companies based on his expertise and past experiences in marketing strategy, including assistance with training of Pharmaceutical Representatives and Medical Science Liaisons representatives, and the preparation of Speaker Program Slide Decks.