The Scleroderma Foundation named Dr. Dinesh Khanna its 2011 Doctor of the Year during this year's National Patient Education Conference held in July in San Francisco. The award recognizes a skilled physician or researcher for his or her involvement within the foundation and for helping provide guidance and support to the organization's patient population.

Khanna is the Marvin & Betty Danto Research Professor of Connective Tissue Research and associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, and the newly-appointed director of the Scleroderma Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters including a defining paper on gastrointestinal issues in scleroderma.

Scleroderma is a chronic, often progressive, autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks its own body.

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