Ami Aalok Shah, M.D.

Headshot of Ami Aalok Shah
  • Director, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine
  • Associate Professor of Medicine

Specializes in: Adults (18+ years)

Female

Languages: English, Gujarati

Expertise

Rheumatology, Scleroderma

Research Interests

Scleroderma and Raynaud’s Phenomenon; Connection Between Cancer and Autoimmunity in the Rheumatic Diseases; Methods to Detect Cardiopulmonary Complications in Scleroderma; Cancer Immune Related Adverse Events ...read more

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Insurance Information

Main Phone

Outside of Maryland & Washington D.C.

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International Patients

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Locations

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Appointment Phone: 443-997-1552
5501 Hopkins Bayview Circle
Asthma and Allergy Center
Baltimore, MD 21224
Phone: 410-550-7715
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center - Google Maps

Background

Dr. Ami Shah is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Rheumatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Shah also serves as the Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center. Her areas of clinical expertise include rheumatology, particularly scleroderma and Raynaud's phenomenon. 

She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency training at Stanford University Hospital & Clinics and rheumatology post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins.  During her fellowship training, she earned her Master of Health Science in Clinical Investigation at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Shah’s clinical practice is focused on the broad spectrum of patients with scleroderma and related disorders, and her expertise includes management of complications such as Raynaud’s phenomenon, digital ischemia, pulmonary hypertension, cardiac dysfunction, myopathy, aggressive skin disease and concomitant cancer. Dr. Shah teaches post-doctoral fellows in her clinic about the evaluation and management of scleroderma. 

Dr. Shah’s research program has focused on the interface between cancer and autoimmunity in scleroderma, myositis and the newly emerging area of immune-related adverse events due to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. In highly collaborative studies, her group has published seminal observations linking cancer with the development of autoimmunity in scleroderma, with implications for cancer screening strategies in this population and the potential to shed insight into the pathogenesis of paraneoplastic rheumatic disease. In addition to her work in cancer and autoimmunity, Dr. Shah has an active research program in other clinical and therapeutic aspects of scleroderma, including early detection of cardiopulmonary complications and improving outcome measures and therapeutics for Raynaud's phenomenon. Dr. Shah also directs rheumatology precision medicine initiatives through the Johns Hopkins Individualized Health (inHealth) Initiative. The division’s program seeks to harness technological resources for comprehensive data collection and harmonization, strengthen novel data analytic approaches including defining unique patient subgroups, and accelerate the incorporation of discoveries into the delivery of clinical care.

Dr. Shah has been a recipient of the ACR Research and Education Foundation Clinical Investigator Fellowship Award. In 2018, her research contributions were recognized at the 5th Systemic Sclerosis World Congress with receipt of the Edith Busch Prize for Young Investigators. In 2020, she was honored to receive the prestigious Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology. She is a member of the American College of Rheumatology.

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Titles

  • Director, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine
  • Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center
  • Deputy Director, Rheumatology Precision Medicine Centers of Excellence Clinical Programs
  • Associate Professor of Medicine

Departments / Divisions

Centers & Institutes

Education

Degrees

  • MD; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2003)

Residencies

  • Internal Medicine; Stanford University School of Medicine (2006)

Fellowships

  • Rheumatology; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2009)

Board Certifications

  • American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine) (2006)
  • American Board of Internal Medicine (Rheumatology) (2009)

Research & Publications

Research Summary

Dr. Shah has an active research program studying various aspects of scleroderma and Raynaud’s phenomenon. She is investigating the connection between cancer and scleroderma, as her early data suggest cancer may drive the development of scleroderma in some patients. She also conducts epidemiological studies and participates in clinical trials to examine 1) methods to detect cardiopulmonary complications in scleroderma, 2) biological and imaging markers of Raynaud’s severity and 3) drugs that may improve various aspects of the disease (such as skin, lung or vascular complications).

Lab

Lab Website: Ami Shah Lab

Selected Publications

View all on PubMed

Shah AA, Rosen A, Hummers L, Wigley F, Casciola-Rosen L. Close Temporal Relationship Between Onset of Cancer and Scleroderma in Patients with RNA Polymerase I/III Antibodies. Arthritis Rheum. 2010 Sep; 62(9): 2787-95. PMID: 20506513

Joseph CG, Darrah E, Shah AA, Skora AD, Casciola-Rosen LA, Wigley FM, Boin F, Fava A, Thoburn C, Kinde I, Jiao Y, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Rosen A. Association of the autoimmune disease scleroderma with an immunologic response to cancer. Science. 2014 Jan 10;343(6167):152-7. PMID: 24310608.

Shah AA, Casciola-Rosen L, Rosen A. Cancer-induced Autoimmunity in the Rheumatic Diseases. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015 Feb;67(2):317-26. PMID: 25371098.

Igusa T, Hummers LK, Visvanathan K, Richardson C, Wigley FM, Casciola-Rosen L, Rosen A, Shah AA. Autoantibodies and scleroderma phenotype define subgroups at high-risk and low-risk for cancer. Ann Rheum Dis. 2018;77(8):1179-1186. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-212999. PMID: 296788941

Shah AA, Laiho M, Rosen A, Casciola-Rosen L. Protective Effect Against Cancer of Antibodies to the Large Subunits of Both RNA polymerases-I and -III in Scleroderma. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019;71(9):1571-9. PMID: 30888702

Activities & Honors

Honors

  • Burchard’s Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998
  • Phi Beta Kappa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999
  • Alpha Omega Alpha, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 2003
  • Clinical Investigator Fellowship Award, American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation, 2009
  • Delta Omega Alpha, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2010
  • Career Development Bridge Funding Award, American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation and Arthritis Foundation, 2011
  • Edith Busch Prize for Young Investigators, Edith Busch Foundation and 5th Systemic Sclerosis World Congress
  • Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award, American College of Rheumatology

Memberships

  • American College of Rheumatology
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