| University
of California, San Francisco
533 Parnassus Ave.
Room U-332, Box 0517
San Francisco, CA 94143-0517
Phone:
415-476-7927
Fax: 415-502-7871
Email: connolly@derm.ucsf.edu
Dr. Connolly graduated from Yale University with a degree in biology in 1980. She received her medical degree from Albany Medical College in New York in 1984 with honors. She completed a three-year internal medicine residency at UCLA and became board certified in 1987. Her interest in autoimmune diseases brought Dr. Connolly to UCSF where she did a combined fellowship in rheumatology and residency in dermatology. She did her postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. David Wofsy in murine models of systemic lupus erythematosus. She joined the faculty with a joint appointment in Dermatology and Medicine (Rheumatology) in 1991. Dr. Connolly has received honors and awards in the areas of research, teaching and patient care.
Research
Interests
Dr. Connolly’s overall interest is in autoimmune skin diseases and the mechanisms by which tissue damage occurs. She is involved with a variety of research studies involving scleroderma, lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis and blistering diseases. Her laboratory processes several hundred skin specimens a year. She participates in a variety of clinical trials looking at treatment in autoimmune diseases.
Dr. Connolly’s primary research focus is on the mechanisms of disease in scleroderma skin. The centerpiece of this project is the UCSF Scleroderma Database and Tissue Bank. This collaborative effort combines clinical data and tissue specimens with basic science tools to generate new molecular markers for scleroderma. The goal is to analyze these samples using increasingly sophisticated microarrays and bioinformatics programs. We have begun this analysis for sets of expressed gene products in scleroderma skin and fibroblasts and see this as an important approach to address fundamental questions in this disease. The scope of these projects is broad and encompasses the immune system, growth factors and their receptors, the extracellular matrix, blood vessels and nerves in the skin in order to advance the understanding and treatment of scleroderma.
Select publications
Tashkin, DP, Elashoff, R, Clements, PJ, Goldin J, Roth, MD, Furst D, Arriola, E, Silver, R, Riley, DJ, Hsu, VM, Varga, J, Schraufnagel, D, Theodore, A, Simms, R, Wise, R, Wigley, F, White, B, Steen, V, Read, C, Mayes, M, Parsley, E, Mubarak, MK, Connolly, Golden, J, Olman, M, Fessler, B, Rothfield, N, Metersky, M, Springmeyer, S. for the Scleroderma Lung Study Group. Oral cyclophosphamide versus placebo for the treatment of scleroderma-related interstitial lung disease. N Engl J Med. 354:2655-66, 2006.
Neuhaus IM, Connolly, MK. An unusual presentation of amyopathic dermatomyositis associated with interstitial lung disease. Arch Dermatol. 142:113-4, 2006.
Khanna, D., Clements, PJ, Furst, DE, Chon, Y, Elashoff, R, Roth, MD, Sterz, M, Chung, J, FitzGerald, JD, Seibold JR, Varga J, Theodore A, Wigley FM, Silver RM, Steen VD, Mayes MD, Connolly, MK, Fessler BJ, Rothfield NF, Mubarak K, Molitor J, Tashkin, DP; Scleroderma Lung Study Group. Correlation of the degree of dyspnea score with heath-related quality of life, functional abilities and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide in patients with systemic sclerosis and active alveolitis: results from the Scleroderma Lung Study. Arthritis Rheum. 52:592-600, 2005.
Whitfield, ML, Finlay DR, Murray, JI, Troyanskaya, OG, Chi JT, Pergamenschikov, A, McCalmont, TH, Brown, PO, Botstein, D, Connolly, MK. Systemic and cell type-specific gene expression patterns in scleroderma skin. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 100:12319-12324, 2003.
Leask A, Abraham, DJ., Finlay, DR, Holmes, A, Pennington, D, Shiwen, X, Chen, Y, Venstrom, K, Dou, X, Ponticos, M, Jackman, JK, Findell, PR, Connolly, MK. Dysregulation of transforming growth factor beta signaling in scleroderma: overexpression of endoglin in cutaneous scleroderma fibroblasts. Arthritis Rheum. 46:1857-1865, 2002.
Toro, JR, Finlay, D, Dou, X, Zheng, SC, LeBoit, PE, Connolly, MK. Detection of type 1 cytokines in discoid lupus erythematosus. Arch Dermatol. 136:1497-1501, 2000.
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