UTHealth doctor joins Raynaud's Association advisory board

Maureen Mayes, M.D., M.P.H., has joined the medical advisory board of the Raynaud's Association.    The Raynaud's Association is a nonprofit organization that works with patients of Raynaud's phenomenon, a hypersensitivity to cold temperatures from a blood flow interruption in the body's extremities that often causes spasms.    A professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and acknowledged Raynaud's expert, Mayes graduated from the Eastern Virginia Medical School before training in internal medicine and rheumatology at the Cleveland Clinic and epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.    She is the author of "The Scleroderma Book: A Guide for Patients and Families," a book that includes research on the connections between scleroderma and Raynaud's phenomenon.    "We are extremely honored to have Dr. Mayes on our team," said Lynn Wunderman, founder and chairperson of the Raynaud's Association, in a press release. "The advisory board provides a valuable resource to the association in providing our members with trustworthy information, while helping us secure increased credibility among a broader audience in the population, as well as within the medical community."   Wunderman says that up to 10 percent of Americans could suffer from Raynaud's phenomenon, and while a cure is not available, "There are treatments that effectively reduce the onset and severity of symptoms," she said.    Mayes directs the Scleroderma Clinic and Research Program and serves as the Elizabeth Bidgood Chair in Rheumatology at UTHealth. Her research interests include susceptibility genes identification and autoimmune diseases related to scleroderma.    For more information on the Raynaud's Association, visit www.raynauds.org.