The National Scleroderma Foundation joins the scleroderma community in mourning the passing of Dr. Thomas A. Medsger Jr., a true giant in the field whose work profoundly shaped our understanding of systemic sclerosis and the care of people living with this complex disease.
“The scleroderma community lost a giant on August 15,” Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, Carol Feghali-Bostwick, PhD, said. “Dr. Thomas Medsger was an amazing mentor who made an indelible impact on me. He was smart, knowledgeable, humble, compassionate, caring, and so passionate about taking care of his scleroderma patients and advancing the scleroderma field. His legacy lives on in the numerous people he mentored and trained who continue his important work.”
Throughout his remarkable career, Dr. Medsger was a pioneering clinician, researcher, educator, and mentor. As professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, he made major contributions to the classification, natural history, and clinical understanding of systemic sclerosis. He co-created the University of Pittsburgh Scleroderma Patient Registry, which grew to include more than 4,000 patients, and his influence continues through the many clinicians and investigators he trained. Ten of his former research trainees went on to establish systemic sclerosis research and patient-care programs at other institutions.
“Tom Medsger has been the cornerstone of my whole career,” Virginia Steen, MD, said, “from his exceptional teaching of rheumatology when I was a third-year medical student which got me ‘hooked’ on rheumatology, to my first day of fellowship when he handed me 300 5×7 cards of Gerry Rodnan’s scleroderma patients to put into the computer, which was the start of the Pittsburgh Scleroderma Database, to the decades of collaboration and passion in working together.”
The Foundation proudly recognized Dr. Medsger as Doctor of the Year in 2005, and awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, honoring his career-long contributions to scleroderma research and treatment.
“His enthusiasm, support, optimism, his great red pen for editing and guidance through all aspect of my career, as well as so many others in scleroderma, have allowed the scleroderma community to benefit and have a much better understanding of all aspects of scleroderma,” Dr. Steen said. “Our final writing collaboration just a couple of years ago was the co-writing of an article for the ‘Giants of Rheumatology’ on Gerry Rodnan, which brought us full circle with all the memories and achievements. Now, Tom is joining the others who are giants of scleroderma. We all will miss him,” she added.
Dr. Medsger’s legacy lives not only in the knowledge he advanced, but also in the patients he cared for, the colleagues and students he inspired, and the hope he gave to people and families affected by scleroderma. His impact will be felt for generations.
On behalf of our board of directors, staff, volunteers, and the entire National Scleroderma Foundation community, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Medsger’s family, friends, colleagues, former trainees, and patients. We remember him with profound gratitude and will carry his dedication forward in our shared pursuit of better treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
The National Scleroderma Foundation honors Dr. Medsger’s legacy. If you would like to make a gift to the National Scleroderma Foundation in memory of Dr. Medsger, please visit https://scleroderma.org/medsger. At the family’s request, all donations made in memory of Dr. Medsger will be restricted to the Foundation’s Research Program, unless otherwise directed by the donor.