Manuel Ramos-Casals

Manuel Ramos-Casals is working as Consultant-2 in the Department of Autoimmune Diseases of the Hospital Clinic Hospital Clínic (Barcelona, Spain). Their daily work, teaching and research focuses on systemic autoimmune diseases (SAD), a group of diseases characterized by the autoimmune damage of many organ systems, a chronic evolution and a high level of complexity in both diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. It is internationally considered an opinion leader in diseases such as Sjögren's syndrome, vasculitis, viral-related autoimmune diseases or systemic lupus erythematosus, with more than 200 indexed articles published, 100 book chapters, co-editor of more than 20 books and chairman of numerous national and international meetings and workshops focused on SAD. He is coordinating the Josep Font Laboratory of Autoimmune Diseases-CELLEX, a research unit integrated in the Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) in Barcelona, Spain. The ongoing research projects are focused on investigating the mechanisms involved in the development of major complications in these patients, including genetic and molecular pathways associated with innate immune receptors and B cells, cardiovascular disease, viral infections (HCV, HIV) and biological therapies. The projects are developed in a multicenter scenario, both nationally and internationally, with strong links and ongoing collaborative studies with the leading Research centers of Europe and US. Currently, Manuel Ramos-Casals is the National Coordinator of the Working Group of Systemic Autoimmune Diseases (GEAS) of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI), a group comprising more than 600 internists working on SAD. The Group has created National Registries of patients with the aim of characterizing the clinical and immunological patterns of disease expression in patients with Sjögren syndrome, systemic sclerosis, lupus, vasculitis, inflammatory myopathies, Behçet disease, sarcoidosis, amiloidosis, IgG4-related disease, hemophagocytic syndrome, autoinmune congenital heart block (including more than 7000 patients with SAD). The GEAS has launched numerous projects, including the top Spanish Annual meetings on SAD for specialists and trainees, an internal process of evaluation of more than 100 Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Units (UEAS) working into Internal Medicine Departments in Spain, and the development of the first Online Master in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases in collaboration with SEMI and the University of Barcelona.