Our Leadership

Program Director

Maria Antonelli is a native Clevelander and rheumatologist in the Division of Rheumatology at Case Western Reserve University Department of Medicine at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, OH.

She graduated from Holy Name High School in Parma, Ohio and then studied chemistry and Italian at CWRU for undergraduate. Dr. Antonelli completed her MD at the University of Toledo, College of Medicine. She completed her training in Internal Medicine, chief residency, and rheumatology fellowship at the MetroHealth Medical Center at Case Western Reserve University.

She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. There is a tender spot in her heart and brain for bone health: she is director of the Osteoporosis Center for Excellence at MetroHealth, hosts small group clinics at Breckvsille runs the fracture liaison service and Better Bones mass dexa project. She loves working with rheumatology fellows and residents as well as romance novels, playing piano and walking her kids and dogs around the neighborhood.

Associate Program Director

Donald D. Anthony MD PhD is Professor of Medicine, Senior Clinician Scientist at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and Staff Rheumatologist at both MetroHealth and the Cleveland VA Medical Center.

He obtained his graduate degree in Biochemistry, studying the regulation of protein synthesis at the level of cap binding and RNA unwinding initiation factor activity utilized in cap independent viral translation. He believes he performed the first adaptation of toeprinting (ribosome footprinting) in a eukaryotic system and helped to elucidate the role of cap binding protein factors in cap independent Internal Ribosomal Entry Site (IRES) dependent translation, working in the laboratory of William C Merrick.

Post-Doctoral work involved evaluation of host T cell autoimmunity in the collagen induced arthritis model system. He joined the faculty at Case in 1999 and since then he has been continuously funded at the national level to lead an investigative team for the study of dendritic cell, T cell and NK cell subsets, and pathways underlying chronic immune activation in the setting of HCV and HIV infection.

More recently focus has included the settings of HCV associated HCC, Autoimmune Disease (Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis), and COVID. He serves as a senior editor on the Case Western Reserve journal Pathogens and Immunity, enjoys skiing, watching baseball and spending time on the water.

Coordinator

Nicole Beckwith has lived in Ohio her entire life. After graduating from North Olmsted high school, she obtained her Bachlors Degree in Human Development and Family Services from Bowling Green State University.

She has worked at MetroHealth for the last 10 years and regards MetroHealth as being the best place to work. This makes it easy for her to understand why some people work at MetroHealth for a long time – some even stay their entire career.

Nicole has worked in the Department of Rheumatology for most of her career at MetroHealth and plans to stay. Most of her efforts as Academic Coordinator- Dermatology, Rheumatology & Nephrology involve working closely with residents and fellows and she always learns something new from them.

Nicole is married and has two dogs. Her favorite color is pink, and she really likes pasta, which she enjoys as often as she can.