Learn more about this and other programs<\/a> she is leading — along with her colleagues at the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center — where\u00a0 patients are close partners in the journey to providing hope and healing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Learn more about this and other programs she is leading — along with her colleagues at the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center — where patients are close partners in the journey to providing hope and healing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58060,"featured_media":7927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program | Thurston Arthritis Research Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program | Thurston Arthritis Research Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn more about this and other programs she is leading -- along with her colleagues at the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center -- where patients are close partners in the journey to providing hope and healing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thurston Arthritis Research Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unctarc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-07T19:56:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-02T15:59:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"292\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"164\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bradd Pavur\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UNCTARC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UNCTARC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bradd Pavur\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bradd Pavur\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9e44b7f1687f047ef8592213f6dbaf\"},\"headline\":\"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-07T19:56:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-02T15:59:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/\"},\"wordCount\":76,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/\",\"name\":\"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program | Thurston Arthritis Research Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-07T19:56:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-02T15:59:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9e44b7f1687f047ef8592213f6dbaf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg\",\"width\":292,\"height\":164},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/\",\"name\":\"Thurston Arthritis Research Center\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9e44b7f1687f047ef8592213f6dbaf\",\"name\":\"Bradd Pavur\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f0371dd0d493c316fd308b3d270d6f0d3343b21f2e07b4f9710e2cda81969dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f0371dd0d493c316fd308b3d270d6f0d3343b21f2e07b4f9710e2cda81969dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bradd Pavur\"},\"description\":\"Thurston Arthritis Res Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/author\/braddp\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program | Thurston Arthritis Research Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program | Thurston Arthritis Research Center","og_description":"Learn more about this and other programs she is leading -- along with her colleagues at the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center -- where patients are close partners in the journey to providing hope and healing.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/","og_site_name":"Thurston Arthritis Research Center","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unctarc","article_published_time":"2019-10-07T19:56:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-02T15:59:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":292,"height":164,"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bradd Pavur","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UNCTARC","twitter_site":"@UNCTARC","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bradd Pavur"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/"},"author":{"name":"Bradd Pavur","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9e44b7f1687f047ef8592213f6dbaf"},"headline":"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program","datePublished":"2019-10-07T19:56:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-02T15:59:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/"},"wordCount":76,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/","name":"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program | Thurston Arthritis Research Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-07T19:56:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-02T15:59:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9e44b7f1687f047ef8592213f6dbaf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","width":292,"height":164},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/dr-saira-sheikh-is-leading-an-innovative-autoimmunity-and-lupus-research-program\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dr. Saira Sheikh is leading an Innovative Autoimmunity and Lupus Research Program"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/","name":"Thurston Arthritis Research Center","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9e44b7f1687f047ef8592213f6dbaf","name":"Bradd Pavur","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f0371dd0d493c316fd308b3d270d6f0d3343b21f2e07b4f9710e2cda81969dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f0371dd0d493c316fd308b3d270d6f0d3343b21f2e07b4f9710e2cda81969dc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bradd Pavur"},"description":"Thurston Arthritis Res Center","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/author\/braddp\/"}]}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk-150x150.jpg","featured_image_alt":"","category_details":[{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/category\/news\/"}],"tag_details":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/tarc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/802\/2019\/10\/Saira-Sheikh-at-desk.jpg\")
Dr. Sheikh is nationally recognized for her expertise, and patients seek her care at the UNC Rheumatology Clinic, from across North Carolina as well as around the country.<\/p>\n