Autoimmune Life Blog

If you’re searching for a story of human triumph in the face of living with autoimmune diseases, look no further than the Biesold family.

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) is relatively small compared to large research universities, but its impact goes well beyond its size and location, accelerating scientific discovery globally.

Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) has been awarded another leadership role in type 1 diabetes research. Carla Greenbaum, MD, BRI’s director of the Diabetes Research Program and Clinical Research Center, has been named chair of Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet.

There are approximately 50,000 immune cells in every single drop of blood. In a person with an autoimmune disease, only one or two of those cells cause the disease, while the others are busy protecting the body from unrelated infections and toxins.

As a young, enthusiastic scientist, Jessica Hamerman, PhD, joined Benaroya Research Institute in 2006 ready to delve further into understanding the inflammatory response of a certain type of cell that is an early responder to infections.

For nearly 45 years, Marcia Wollam has cared for people at Virginia Mason Hospital. Initially she served as an LPN and then she became a patient flow coordinator on the Rehabilitation Unit. But she always wanted to do more to help people.

In the early 1980s, the leadership team at Virginia Mason made the important decision to establish a biomedical research center focused on immunology. Immunology at that time was an emerging field, anticipating a future era of medical applications.

A new study recently reported in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that consumption of a peanut-containing snack by infants who are at high-risk for developing peanut allergy prevents the subsequent development of allergy.

“What she’s done for medical science, the arts and education is outright phenomenal,” says Tom Wight, PhD, Director of Benaroya Research Institute’s Matrix Biology Program. He’s talking about his grade school friend Ann Ramsay-Jenkins.

Originally from Auburn, Wash., Kerri Arceo moved to Guam where she met her husband, a native of the island territory. For years she enjoyed a fulfilling life teaching religion at the St. John’s Episcopal School.