ASSISTANT PROFESSOR | Medicine, Rheumatology

Chrisanna Dobrowolski, MD, MS, is a board-certified Rheumatologist and Physician-Investigator with special interests in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjogren’s Disease. She established the Lupus Program at Mount Sinai 2023. This program provides specialized and comprehensive care for patients living with SLE in conjunction with a multidisciplinary team including Psychiatry and Complex Family Planning. Dr. Dobrowolski has also established the Mount Sinai Lupus Cohort Study, including a registry and biorepository. Main areas of focus for the cohort include use of wearable devices measuring physical activity, sleep quality and the bidirectional effects on immune dysregulation and disease activity, as well as cognitive health and quality of life. Collaborators include Fil Swirski, PhD and Emmanuel During, MD. Her work on cognitive health in lupus is mentored by Zahi Touma, MD, PhD, from the University of Toronto. She is a member of two international working groups: Harmonizing Cognitive Impairment Research in SLE and OMERACT Working Group for Outcome Measures in SLE.

Dr. Dobrowolski is a co-lead of the groundbreaking Mount Sinai T Cell Therapy Program for Autoimmune Disease, alongside colleagues, Margrit Wiesendanger, MD, PhD and Jacques Azzi, MD. This program brings chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (CAR T) and bispecific T cell engager (TCE) treatments to those with severe, refractory autoimmune diseases, which are potential life-changing for these patients. As part of this effort, she has helped to establish the first joint Rheumatology-Hematology interdisciplinary clinic. Dr. Dobrowolski is the PI for the investigator-initiated Phase 1 LATTE trial, evaluating the safety and efficacy of alnuctamab (TCE) for treatment of moderate to severe, refractory lupus. She also serves as principal investigator (PI) and Co-Investigator for several cell therapy trials. The T Cell Therapy Program is closely aligned with the Precision Immunology Institute (PrIISM) and Human Immune Monitoring Center (HIMC) led by renowned Immunologist, Dr. Miriam Merad. Dr. Dobrowolski has been an invited faculty member of PrIISM since 2025 and has paired with HIMC to complete deep immune profiling for patients enrolled in the LATTE trial.

In addition to her clinical work and research activities, Dr. Dobrowolski teaches at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and is engaged in precepting and teaching Mount Sinai residents and fellows. She has been invited to give numerous talks and has received several awards including the Norman Gaylis Clinical Research Award and the Rheumatology Research Foundation Preceptorship Award. She is actively involved in the American College of Rheumatology’s Criteria Subcommittee which is responsible for overseeing the development of internationally recognized and evidence-based classification, risk stratification, disease activity and response criterion in Rheumatology.