Robert W. Simms MD

Professor, Rheumatology

75 E. Newton St | (617) 638-4310
Robert Simms
Sections

Rheumatology

Centers

Arthritis & Autoimmune Diseases Research Center

Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research

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).

Education

MD, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

BA, Bucknell University

Publications

Published on 2/2/2025

Kosarek NN, Romano M, Moen E, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

View full list of 107 publications.