Skip to main content
ACR Convergence 2025 Main banner
Final Program


Schedule at a Glance
Legend
Program: Scientific Session
General Topic: Basic Science

What's in a Name?: Defining Pathogenic Fibroblasts in Systemic Sclerosis

Sunday, October 26, 2025
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Central Time

    Moderator(s)

  • KC

    Kristina Clark, MD, PhD, MRCP

    University of Oxford
    London, United Kingdom

    Disclosure(s): No financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose

  • Monica Yang, MD

    UCSF
    San Francisco, California, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Session Coordinator(s)

  • Monica Yang, MD

    UCSF
    San Francisco, California, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is defined by the disease pillars of autoimmunity, vasculopathy, and fibrosis. Advances in single-cell technologies have advanced our understanding of the cellular contributors of progressive fibrosis in patients with SSc. This session aims to explore novel insights gained into fibroblast heterogeneity and focus on redefining the pathologic fibroblast in SSc skin and lung disease.

Learning Objectives:

  • Explore fibroblast heterogeneity in SSc skin and its role in dermal fibrosis
  • Define the cells contributing to collagen production in the lung
  • Describe the pathologic fibroblasts of the lung, including their origin and contribution to fibrosis

Presentations:

  • 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM Central Time
    Defining Pathogenic Fibroblasts in the Skin

    Speaker: John Varga, MD – University of Michigan

  • 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM Central Time
    Defining Pathologic Fibroblasts in the Lung

    Speaker: Tatsuya Tsukui, PhD – University of California, San Francisco