Update Your ProfileAcademic Title:
Clinical Associate Professor
Primary Appointment:
Medicine
Additional Title:
Clinical Associate Professor
Location:
Baltimore
Biosketch
Marcela Ferrada, M.D., earned her medical degree at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. She completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she also spent one year as chief resident. She completed a dual fellowship in critical care medicine at the National Institutes of Health and in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In 2015, Dr. Ferrada was diagnosed with relapsing polychondritis, a rare inflammatory rheumatic disorder. After her diagnosis she changed her career focus to studying this disease. She completed a rheumatology fellowship at the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. During
Dr. Ferrada is board certified in internal medicine, critical care, infectious diseases, and rheumatology. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society at the University of Miami. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Distinguished Fellow Award from the American College of Rheumatology in 2018, the Outstanding Research Award from the Rheumatism Society of the District of Columbia in 2018, the Lawrence Shulman Scholar Award in 2019, and the NIH Director's Award in 2021.
Dr. Ferrada was pivotal in recruiting and evaluating patients on the first available prospective cohort of patients with relapsing polychondritis at NIH and has become a world leader in the field. She has given several grand rounds in academic institutions and international meetings about relapsing polychondritis and VEXAS syndrome.
Research/Clinical Keywords
vexas, relapsing polychondritis, rheumatology, clinical immunology, somatic mutations in UBA1
Highlighted Publications
- Ferrada MA, Savic S, Cardona D, et al. Translation of Cytoplasmic UBA1 Contributes to VEXAS Syndrome Pathogenesis. Blood. 2022 Sep 29;140(13):1496-1506
- Topillo JS, Ospina Cardon D, Beck DB, Ferrada MA, et al. Novel Genetic Mutation in Myositis-Variant of VEXAS Syndrome
- Heiblig M, Ferrada MA, Koster MJ, Barba T et al. Ruxolitinib is More Effective than other JACK Inhibitors to treat VEXAS Syndrome: A retrospective Multicenter Study. Blood Aug 25, 2022
- PC Grayson, DB Beck, Ferrada MA, PA Nigrovic and DL Kastner VEXAS Syndrome and Disease Taxonomy in Rheumatology. Notes from the Field. Arthritis & Rheumatology June 12, 2022
- Luo Y, Bolek EC, Quinn KA, Wells K, Rose R, Sikora K, Goodspeed W, Rominger E, Kilic L, Karadag O, Clark C, Livinski AA, Grayson PC and Ferrada MA. A Prospective Observational Cohort Study and Systemactic Review of 40 Patients with Mouth and Genital Ulcers with Inflamed Cartilage (MAGIC) Syndrome. Semin Arthritis Rheum Nov 14, 2021
- Rose E, Ferrada MA, Quin KA et al. Discordance in Patient and Physician Global Assessment in Relapsing Polychondritis. Rheumatology 2021 Sep 24.
- Ferrada MA, Sikora KA, Luo Y et al. Somatic Mutations in UBA1 Define a Distinct Subset of Relapsing Polychondritis with VEXAS. Arthtritis Rheumatol. 2021 Oct; 73(10):1886-1895
- Rose E, Ferrada MA, Quin KA et al. Physician Global Assessment as a Disease Activity Measure for Relapsing Polychondritis.Arthritis Care Res. 2021 Feb 5.
- Patel BE, Ferrada MA, Grayson PC and Beck DB. VEXAS syndrome: An inflammatory and hematologic disease. Semi Hematol. 2021 Oct; 58(4):201-203
- D Beck, MA Ferrada, KA Sikora, AK Ombrello et al. Somatic Mutationsin UBA1 and Severe Adult-Onset Autoinflammaory Disease. N Engl J Med. 2020 Dec 3
- M Schwarts, C Rimland, K Quinn, MA Ferrada et al. Utility of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire to Monitor Patient Beliefs in Systemic Vasculitis. J Rheumatol. 2020 Dec 1;47 (12):1785-1792
- MA Ferrada, CA Rimland, K Quinn et al. Defining Clinical Subgroups in Relapsing Polychondritis: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020. Aug; 71 (8): 1396-1402
- DP D’Cruz and MA Ferrada. Relapsing Polychondritis and Large-vessel Vasculitis. J Rheumatol. 2020 Dec 1;47 (12):1732-1733
- CA Rimland, MA Ferrada, N Sinnai et al. Patient-perceived Burden of Disease in Pediatric Relapsing Polychondritis. J Rheumatol. 2019 Dec; 46 (12):1627-1633
- S Gupta, MA Ferrada, SA Hasni. Pulmonary Manifestations of Primary Sjogren’s Syndrome: Underlying Immunological Mechanisms, Clinical Presentation, and Management. Front Immunol. 2019 June 12; 10:1327
- MA Ferrada, PC Grayson, S Banerjee S, Sikora K, Colbert R, Sinaii N, Katz JD. Patient-Perception of Disease-Related Symptoms and Complications in Relapsing Polychondritis. Arthritis Care Res. 2018 Aug; 70(8):1124-1131
- MA Ferrada. Relapsing Polychondritis is a lung disease. My Story. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2017 Dec 28
Clinical Specialty Details
Rheumatology Fellowship
National Institutes of Health – NIAMS
September 2016 – June 2019
Infectious Diseases Fellowship
Johns Hopkins Hospital
July 2012 – June 2015
Critical Care Fellowship
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
July 2011 – June 2015
Internal Medicine Residency
University of Miami/Jackson Memorial
July 2007 – June 2010
Awards and Affiliations
- NIH Director’s Award VEXAS Team, National Institutes of Health - 2021
- Lawrence Shulman Scholar, National Institutes of Health, NIAMS - 2019
- Distinguished Fellow Award, American Colleague of Rheumatology - 2018
- Outstanding Research Award, Rheumatism Society of the District of Columbia - 2018
- NIH Director’s Award, Ebola Patient Care Response Team, National Institutes of Health - 2015
- Outstanding Chief Resident Award, University of Miami - 2011
- Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society Member, University of Miami Chapter - 2010
- First Place - Research Presentation Award, Resident Scholarly Activity Presentation, University of Miami - 2009
- Full Academic Scholarship, 18th Annual Mayo Clinic Internal Medicine Board Review Course, Mayo Clinic - 2009
- Most Wanted Internal Medicine Intern, University of Miami - 2008
- First Place - Poster Presentation Award, Common Variable Immunodeficiency, ACP Florida Chapter Annual Meeting - 2008
- Minority Trainee Travel Award, American Thoracic Society Annual Meeting - 2007