Committees:

• Clinical Best Practices

• Diverse Data Collections (DDC)

Qualifications

Dr. Kalunian is qualified to serve on our Board because of his extensive experience as a leading rheumatologist and principal investigator. He is a co-founder of Bento Bio, contributing to intellectual property for optimizing patient experience across diverse populations.

Background

Dr. Kalunian serves as Professor Medicine at the UC San Diego Center for Innovative Therapy with his broad background in clinical research with a focus on the design and conduct of novel immumodulary therapies for systemic lupus erythematous and osteoarthritis, and on translational medicine, which includes the development of biomarkers of response to novel therapies. He founded UC San Diego’s Lupus Center of Excellence, a bench- and clinical- science research hub and a multi-disciplinary center for care of complicated lupus patients. He was the Inaugural Chair of the Lupus Clinical Investigators Network (LuCIN), a national collaborative clinical trial network. He is also a member of several Grant Review Committees for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS).

Other Boards

• Lupus Clinical Investigators Network (LuCIN), Inaugural Chair

• Lupus Foundation of America (LFA)-sponsored Collective Data Analysis Initiative (CDAI), Founder and Inaugural Director

• Scientific Council of Lupus Therapeutics, Former Chair

• UC San Diego Center for Innovative Therapy, Co-Director

• Southern California Rheumatology Society, Former President

• Scientific Advisory Boards of Lupus Research Alliance and Lupus Foundation of America

Education

• MD, Saint Louis University

• Internal Medicine Residency, UCLA and UCLA/San Fernando Valley

• Chief Internal Medicine Resident, UCLA

• Rheumatology Fellow, UCLA

• Arthroscopic Surgery Fellow, Lutheran General Hospital