Jennifer Anolik Named Chief of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology Division

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Jennifer Anolik Named Chief of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology Division

Internationally renowned physician scientist Jennifer H. Anolik, MD, PhD, was named chief of the Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology (AIR) Division in the Department of Medicine, after serving as interim chief since 2021.

“I am delighted that Jen has agreed to continue leading our AIR division as chief,” said Ruth O’Regan, MD, chair of Medicine. “The division is in great hands under her leadership and will continue to benefit from her experience and expertise as a clinician, educator and researcher. I am extremely grateful to her for serving as interim chair over the past few years.”

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Jennifer Anolik, MD, PhD

A faculty member for 22 years, Anolik also serves as associate chair for research in the Department of Medicine, professor of Medicine, Pathology, and Microbiology and Immunology, and director of the Internal Medicine Physician Scientist Training Program.

“I am excited to lead the Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology team,” Anolik said. “Our division is very strong across the Medical Center’s three pillars of outstanding patient care, medical research, and education. I plan to expand on these strengths and look forward to continuing to work with Dr. O’Regan, other departments and other division chiefs to fulfill URMC’s mission.”

Specifically, Anolik will bolster the already robust allergy and rheumatology fellowship programs and is exploring ways to restructure and tailor fellowship programs to support different career paths. “Among my biggest goals are to build on our very strong research capabilities and support medical research across the spectrum of residents to fellows, physicians and faculty,” she said.

Anolik noted that the new ROC StARR program — ROChester Stimulating Access to Research in Residency  Health and Immune Function Across the Lifespan —  is a key part of this effort. A collaboration with the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics and Dermatology, this program is designed to help recruit and retain individuals interested in pursuing careers as physician-investigators.

“Talent will come from both inside and outside the University,” Anolik added. “This includes identifying potential future faculty members from our current trainees who are at various stages of their education and seeing how we can support their path. I am committed to helping educate the next generation of the allergists, immunologists, rheumatologists, and physician scientists.”

Anolik is one of the pioneers in the use of B cell depletion for the therapy of autoimmune diseases and investigation of its effects on patients’ immune function in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Her research has established B cell targeted therapies as a major advance in the field of immunologic disease. She also led groundbreaking studies using tonsil and bone marrow biopsy as a means of probing immune dysregulation in autoimmune diseases.

Under Anolik’s leadership, URMC was one of 11 research groups across the country chosen by the National Institutes of Health to join the NIH Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Network in 2014, and again in 2022 with extension to psoriatic arthritis and Sjogren’s disease. This consortium is developing new treatments for patients with autoimmune diseases using state-of-the-art, single-cell analytic approaches. Anolik believes this bench-to-bedside-and-back approach exemplifies her research program and “will be a critical strategy to promoting clinical and research excellence and vibrant educational programs in AIR in the years to come.”

Anolik earned her MD and PhD at the University, completed her residency in Internal Medicine in 1999 and her fellowship in Rheumatology in 2002, after which she joined the faculty.

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