About Flavia Castelino, MD
Dr. Flavia Castelino is the Director of the Scleroderma Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a board-certified physician in the Division of Rheumatology and she specializes in the treatment of scleroderma and connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) or autoimmune-ILD.
Dr. Castelino founded the MGH Scleroderma Program with a focus on providing outstanding comprehensive care for patients with scleroderma and related conditions. The MGH Scleroderma Program maintains a clinical registry and biorepository of patients with scleroderma to perform clinical and translational research. Dr. Castelino is additionally a principal investigator on several clinical trials evaluating novel therapies for the treatment of scleroderma.
She has many active collaborations nationally and internationally and is a member of the Executive Committee of the CONQUER Registry, a multi-center US based registry of scleroderma patients. She has served on several committees within the American College of Rheumatology, and is a member of the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium. She additionally serves as a reviewer for several medical journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Arthritis and Rheumatology, Arthritis Care and Research.
Dr. Castelino has been invited to speak nationally and internationally on scleroderma and related conditions, including CTD-ILD. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Distinguished Fellow Award, the Rheumatology Research Foundation Physician-Scientist Development Award, a NIH/NIAMS K08 research grant to study the role of a lipid mediator, lysophosphatidic acid in scleroderma fibrosis, and a Scleroderma Foundation Walter A. Coyle Memorial Research Award.
Clinical Interests:
- Autoimmune-ILD, Connective tissue disease-associated ILD
- Dermatomyositis
- Polymyositis
- Raynaud's phenomenon
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Scleroderma/Systemic sclerosis
Treats:
- Adult
Locations
Mass General Rheumatology at Waltham
52 Second Ave.
Suite 2600
Waltham, MA 02451
Phone: 781-487-6006
Mass General Rheumatology
55 Fruit St.
Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care
Suite 4B
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-726-7938
Medical Education
- MD, SUNY Upstate Medical University at Syracuse, Office of the Registrar
- Residency, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
- Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital
Accepted Insurance Plans
- Aetna
- Beech Street
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare
- Cigna
- Commonwealth Care Alliance
- Coventry
- Fallon Health
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
- Humana
- Maine Community Health Options
- Mass General Brigham Health Plan
- MassHealth
- Medicaid ME
- Medicaid NH
- Medicaid RI
- Medicaid VT
- Medicare
- Medicare ACO
- Multiplan
- Senior Whole Health
- TriCare
- Tufts Health Plan
- United Health Care
- Wellpoint
- WellSense
- WellSense NH
Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.
Research
Clinical Studies at the MGH Scleroderma Program
- Prospective Registry In Scleroderma at MGH (PRISM)- Database and bio-repository of patients with scleroderma seen at the MGH Scleroderma Program.
- The Collaborative, National Quality, and Efficacy Registry (CONQUER) - A collaborative, multi-center database of patients with scleroderma
- Clinical trials in scleroderma and scleroderma lung disease.
For further information, please contact: Ana Fernandes, Research Manager (adfernandes@mgh.harvard.edu, 617-726-7938)
Publications
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Selected Publications:
Castelino FV, Dellaripa PF. Recent progress in systemic sclerosis-interstitial lung disease. Curr Op Rheum 2018 Nov;30(6):570-575.
Schoenfeld SR, Castelino FV. Evaluation & management approaches for scleroderma lung disease. Ther Adv Resp Dis. 2017 Jun 1.
Castelino FV, Bain G, Pace VA, Black KE, George L, Probst CK, Goulet L, Lafyatis R, Tager AM. An Autotaxin-LPA-IL-6 Amplification Loop Drives Scleroderma Fibrosis. Arthritis Rheum. 2016 Dec;68(12):2964-2974
Castelino FV, Varga J. Emerging cellular and molecular targets in fibrosis: implications for scleroderma pathogenesis and targeted therapy. Curr Op Rheum 2014 Nov;26(6):607-14
Castelino FV. Lipids and Eicosanoids in Fibrosis: Emerging Targets for Therapy. Curr Op Rheum 2012; 24 (6): 649-655.
Castelino FV, Goldberg H, Dellaripa PF. The Impact of Rheumatologic Evaluation in the Management of Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease. Rheumatology 2011 Mar;50(3):489-93.
Castelino FV, Seiders J, Bain G, Brooks SF, King C, Swaney J, Lorrain D, Chun J, Luster AD, Tager AM. Amelioration of dermal fibrosis by genetic deletion or pharmacologic antagonism of LPA1 in a mouse model of scleroderma. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 2011. May; 63(5):1405-15.
She is a wonderful Dr. and knows a lot about Scleroderma! It has helped me tremendously to understand what I can do for it, and how to treat it.
I trust and rely on my providers guidance in all my health issues. Dr. Flavia Castelino is always up to date on my health and ready to assist me needs.
I appreciated that Dr. Castelino listened to what I had to say and didn't "brush" me off.
Dr. Castelino was very kind, caring, listened to me, explained to me. She made me feel very comfortable and I'm very happy that she is taking care of me. Thank you for allowing me to tell you this.
She was kind, efficient, and clear. She understood my wish to continue with providers in Western MA to avoid the long drive to Waltham and facilitated that. She took me early, and the visit was finished before the appointment time, so I could begin the long journey home. Altogether satisfactory--just that it was two hours from home. It took months ... Read More
Dr. Castelino is caring and thorough in her medical coverage
Dr. Castelino is the most wonderful doctor. She's smart, she's kind, she's caring, she listens. I'm so grateful that I have her for my doctor and I can't say enough good things about her.
Excellent experience
Dr. Castelino was well-informed about me and was attentive and considerate during my visit.
It was a very positive experience. She listened, asked questions and was reassuring in terms of the diagnosis and treatment options.