Dr. Belina Yi begins her career in pediatric rheumatology by working to start a Juvenile Myositis Specialty Clinic at Johns Hopkins
I love my patients.
Children are so brave and strong.
I get to smile and laugh with them during visits.
They inspire me to be a better doctor and even better person every day.
It is very special being a doctor who can help them through a very difficult journey – having chronic autoimmune diseases such as juvenile myositis.
One of my first patients that I took care of after graduating medical school was an adolescent lady with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). She came into the hospital on a wheelchair. By the time she was leaving after staying in the hospital for a few days, she was walking with a walker. I was amazed at what this disease can do and how much our treatment can also help this strange disease. This triggered my interest in pediatric rheumatology.
I continued my medical training as a pediatric rheumatology fellow. In the beginning of my fellowship, I had helped establish Rheumatology-Dermatology clinic where we were providing multidisciplinary care for patients with severe and refractory rheumatic skin conditions such as JDM associated calcinosis. I started my fellowship project on role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting the development of calcinosis in JDM patients.
My growing research interest in JDM and JDM associated calcinosis led me to connect to JDM experts such as Dr. Susan Kim at University of California San Francisco and Dr. Lisa Rider at National Institutes of Health. I became very passionate about collaborative clinical research in juvenile myositis; and now am an early stage investigator on international multi-institutional projects now with at Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) and International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group (IMACS), SHARE JM and MIHRA!
These collaborative projects, currently supported through MIHRA, are focused on calcinosis severity criteria and developing consensus guidelines for treatment in juvenile myositis. I believe that collaborative research in rare disease, such as juvenile myositis, is the key to meaningful research outcomes that will impact many patients’ lives. Through MIHRA, I am applying for my first NIH grant which is focused on clinical care and collaborative research in rare diseases – this award will hopefully allow me time to focus on my research interests as well as my clinic interests!
As a pediatric rheumatologist, I strive to provide high quality patient-centered care while leading and participating in research projects in juvenile myositis. My career goal is to establish dedicated juvenile myositis clinic with registry at our institution that will provide multidisciplinary care to our patients and further contribution to myositis research. This is also an exciting time in juvenile myositis research, with new medication options being available and better understanding of disease through myositis specific and associated autoantibodies.
I am very happy to be in this field – to be able to meet and care for our children with myositis continues to mean a world to me. I am excited to be involved in MIHRA and grateful to be a part of collaborative funding opportunities and for close mentorship that I have been receiving from myositis experts from around the world!
Belina Yi, June 2024