Robert W. Simms, MD
Professor, Medicine
Biography
Dr. Simms is Emeritus Professor of Rheumatology at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. His major research interest is in scleroderma clinical outcome measures and clinical trials. He is the most active scleroderma clinician in the section, and is the site PI on multiple past and ongoing multicenter trials. He partners with Dr. Lafyatis in clinical and translational studies. This has included a recently completed trial of rituximab in systemic sclerosis. He works very closely with Dr. Farber on clinical issues as well as clinical trial initiatives in pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Simms receives NIH support as the site PI on a multi-center trial of high dose immunosuppressive therapy and autologous bone marrow transplant compared to cyclophosphamide (SCOT).
Other Positions
- Member, Arthritis & Autoimmune Diseases Research Center, Boston University
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
Education
- University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, MD
- Bucknell University, BA
Publications
- Published on 2/2/2025
Kosarek NN, Romano ME, Moen EL, Simms RW, Erickson A, Khanna D, Pioli PA, Whitfield ML. Geographic Clustering of Systemic Sclerosis in Areas of Environmental Pollution. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2025 Feb 02. PMID: 39895067.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/3/2024
Georges GE, Khanna D, Wener MH, Mei MG, Mayes MD, Simms RW, Sanchorawala V, Hosing C, Kafaja S, Pawarode A, Holmberg LA, Kolfenbach J, Furst DE, Sullivan KM, Huang S, Gooley T, Nash RA. Autologous Nonmyeloablative Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis: Identifying Disease Risk Factors for Toxicity and Long-Term Outcomes in a Prospective, Single-Arm Trial. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024 Dec 03. PMID: 39624016.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/15/2023
Spiera R, Kuwana M, Khanna D, Hummers L, Frech TM, Stevens W, Matucci-Cerinic M, Kafaja S, Distler O, Jun JB, Levy Y, Leszcyznski P, Gordon J, Steen V, Lee EB, Jankowski T, Litinsky I, Chung L, Hsu V, Mayes M, Sandorfi N, Simms RW, Finzel S, de Vries-Bouwstra J, Constantine S, Dgetluck N, Dinh Q, Bloom BJ, Furst DE, White B, Denton CP. Efficacy and Safety of Lenabasum, a Cannabinoid Type 2 Receptor Agonist, in a Phase 3 Randomized Trial in Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2023 Sep; 75(9):1608-1618. PMID: 37098795.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/16/2022
Keyes-Elstein L, Pinckney A, Goldmuntz E, Welch B, Franks JM, Martyanov V, Wood TA, Crofford L, Mayes M, McSweeney P, Nash R, Georges G, Csuka ME, Simms R, Furst D, Khanna D, Clair EWS, Whitfield ML, Sullivan KM. Clinical and Molecular Findings After Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation or Cyclophosphamide for Scleroderma: Handling Missing Longitudinal Data. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2023 Feb; 75(2):307-316. PMID: 34533286.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/6/2022
Shah A, Storek J, Woolson R, Pinckney A, Keyes-Elstein L, Wallace PK, Sempowski GD, McSweeney P, Mayes MD, Crofford L, Csuka ME, Phillips K, Khanna D, Simms R, Ballen K, LeClercq S, Clair WS, Nixon AB, Nash R, Wener M, Brasington R, Silver R, Griffith LM, Furst DE, Goldmuntz E, Sullivan KM. Lymphocyte subset abnormalities in early severe scleroderma favor a Th2 phenotype and are not altered by prior immunosuppressive therapy. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022 10 06; 61(10):4155-4162. PMID: 35108379.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/27/2022
Khanna D, Caldron P, Martin RW, Kafaja S, Spiera R, Shahouri S, Shah A, Hsu V, Ervin J, Simms R, Domsic RT, Steen V, Hummers LK, Derk C, Mayes M, Chatterjee S, Varga J, Kesten S, Fraser JK, Furst DE. Adipose-Derived Regenerative Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of Hand Dysfunction in Systemic Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2022 Aug; 74(8):1399-1408. PMID: 35358372.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/23/2022
Rice LM, Mantero JC, Stratton EA, Warburton R, Roberts K, Hill N, Simms RW, Domsic R, Farber HW, Lafyatis R. Correction: Serum biomarker for diagnostic evaluation of pulmonary arterial hypertension in systemic sclerosis. Arthritis Res Ther. 2022 May 23; 24(1):118. PMID: 35606822.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/28/2021
Kong K, Koontz D, Morse C, Roth E, Domsic RT, Simon MA, Stratton E, Buchholz C, Tobin-Finch K, Simms R, George MP, Hassoun PM, Farber H, Lafyatis R. A Pilot Study of Dimethyl Fumarate in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Associated with Systemic Sclerosis. J Scleroderma Relat Disord. 2021 Oct 01; 6(3):242-246. PMID: 35005243.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/18/2021
Spiera R, Chung L, Frech T, Domsic R, Hsu V, Furst DE, Simms R, Mayes M, Martyanov V, Whitfield ML, Dgetluck N, Dinh Q, White B. Reply. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 04; 73(4):716-717. PMID: 33164325.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/19/2020
Chung L, Spino C, McLain R, Johnson SR, Denton CP, Molitor JA, Steen VD, Lafyatis R, Simms RW, Kafaja S, Frech TM, Hsu V, Domsic RT, Pope JE, Gordon JK, Mayes MD, Sandorfi N, Hant FN, Bernstein EJ, Chatterjee S, Castelino FV, Ajam A, Allanore Y, Matucci-Cerinic M, Whitfield ML, Distler O, Singer O, Young A, Nagaraja V, Fox DA, Furst DE, Khanna D. Safety and efficacy of abatacept in early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (ASSET): open-label extension of a phase 2, double-blind randomised trial. Lancet Rheumatol. 2020 Dec; 2(12):e743-e753. PMID: 34966900.
Read at: PubMed
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