UM School of Medicine Professor Ashira Blazer Honored with The Art of Healing Award for Excellence in Lupus Care

New faculty member, Ashira Blazer, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) was recently honored with the “Art of Healing” award at the Harlem Fine Arts Show for her transformative impacts in lupus care. Her widely published research focuses on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in African Ancestry patients. She studies both African ancestry-specific genetic risk factors for severe disease and the socioeconomic challenges facing Black patients with lupus. She works both domestically and in collaboration with rheumatologists in West Africa to understand the interplay between social and genetic risks in this sensitive population.

Dr. Blazer joined the UMSOM Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology in February. In July, she will assume her dual role as Co-Director of the University of Maryland Lupus Program.

Throughout her career, she has contributed impactful research, compassionate clinical care, and an unwavering commitment to healing Lupus patients of African ancestry.

“We are proud to have Dr. Blazer as a part of our efforts to reach and treat the lupus patient community,” said Marc Hochberg, MD, MPH, MACP, MACR, Professor of Medicine and Division Head of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology. “Her recent award is reflective of her tremendous success in advancing clinical care and creating a better quality of life for those managing this chronic disease.”

The Lupus Program at the University of Maryland maintains partnerships with several national and international organizations such as the Lupus Clinical Investigators Network (LuCIN), ensuring that urban and African American patient populations have access to clinical trials. In her new role as Co-Director, she will work alongside the program’s founder, Violeta Rus, MD, to expand translational research, implement community engagement, outreach programs, and strengthen clinical education for trainees.

Dr. Blazer’s research primarily focuses on lupus as it effects African American women. She joins UMSOM as a former Assistant Professor of Rheumatology at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. During her time in New York, she provided clinical care for hundreds of lupus patients and studied the genetic risk factors of those who carry the APOL1 high risk genotype. The Harlem Fine Arts Show celebrated her research and impacts within the city’s African American patient population along with other physicians in the community who exemplify excellence through the art of healing in their medical specialties.

“I am honored to receive this award along with other outstanding physicians and pioneers in the medical field,” said Dr. Blazer. “I am very excited to continue my commitment to the lupus community at the University of Maryland and to serve this patient population through the lupus program.”

Her research has also spanned to impact patients in West Africa where she maintains collaborations with the University of Ghana and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.

“About 13% of African Americans, most commonly those of West African ancestry, carry two copies of the APOL1 gene which can increase risk of kidney and cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Blazer. “The consequences of carrying this risk genotype may be heightened in people who have chronic inflammation as seen in lupus. In my new role, I hope to advance studies that can better distinguish the genetic and environmental factors of lupus so we may have a better understanding of the underlying social determinants that effect the local population here in Baltimore.”

At UMSOM, her research will continue to be aimed at understanding how the inflammation seen in Lupus patients interacts with the high-risk APOL1 genotype and identifying viable ways to better detect kidney injury due to the genetic risk factor.

Dr. Blazer is a graduate of the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas and was also named a “Top 40 Under 40 Leader in Health” by The National Minority Quality Forum. She completed her internship and residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee and began her medical career in New York with a fellowship in Rheumatology at the NYU School of Medicine.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.2 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic, and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has more than $500 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2023, the UM School of Medicine is ranked #10 among the 92 public medical schools in the U.S., and in the top 16 percent (#32) of all 192 public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu