Appointments

Children are seen on Monday through Friday in the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital in the Explorer Clinic-Pediatric Specialty Care in the Riverside East Building.

Clinic Map and Parking Information

Patients may also be seen at our Woodbury, Maple Grove, and Burnsville locations

New patient appointments are scheduled through the Pediatric Rheumatology Office at (612) 626-4598.  We need the mailing addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers for your child's primary care physician and consultants.  Appointments are scheduled only after we receive relevant medical records, including physician notes, laboratory results, x-rays, and reports.

Returning patient appointments are scheduled directly through the clinic at (612) 365-6777 or through the Health Access Line at 1 (888) 256-9787.

For all types of appointments, be sure to bring shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt for your child to wear during the examination, and any new laboratory, x-ray, or physician reports that were not already sent.

Our Service

Our clinical team has been assembled to facilitate the evaluation and treatment of children with rheumatic diseases.

Each child referred to the arthritis/rheumatology program will be seen by a pediatric physician and nurse specializing in the evaluation and care of children with rheumatic diseases.

Coordination of visits with consultants in other pediatric medical specialties, pediatric physical and occupational therapy, and pediatric ophthalmology can also be arranged when needed through this program.

Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns about your child, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Denise Erlanson, RN, BSN, & Nora Fitzsimmons, RN, BSN - our primary nurses for the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology
(612) 626-4597
Toll Free: (855) 267-5289
They can help answer questions about your child's rheumatic condition, medications, and tests. 

Sheng Xiong - Clinical Administrative Coordinator
(612) 626-4598
Toll Free: (855) 267-5289
She can help with appointments, prescription refills, records forwarding, and other office matters.

For emergencies after hours or on the weekends, please call the paging operator at (612) 273-3000 or toll free at (855) 267-5289 and ask to speak to the physician on-call for Pediatric Rheumatology.

Our Patients

Children are seen from a wide geographical area, most commonly Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Michigan (UP).  The most common reasons for these visits are:

Juvenile Arthritis (JA)

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA)

  • Oligoarticular JIA
  • Polyarticular JIA
  • Systemic JIA
  • Enthesitis-Related JIA
  • Psoriatic JIA

Other Types of Arthritis

  • Arthritis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Juvenile Ankylosing Spondylitis
  • Reactive Arthritis/Reiter's Syndrome

Pediatric Lupus and Related Diseases

  • Antiphospholipid syndrome
  • Mixed Connective Tissue Disease
  • Pediatric Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus)
  • Raynaud’s Phenomenon
  • Sjögren Syndrome

Infection-Related Arthritis

  • Lyme Arthritis
  • Post-Infectious Arthritis
  • Viral Arthritis

Systemic Vasculitis

  • Behçet Disease
  • Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA, formerly Wegener’s granulomatosis)
  • Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (EGPA, formerly Churg-Strauss syndrome)
  • Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP)
  • Kawasaki Disease
  • Microscopic polyangiitis
  • Primary Angiitis of the Central Nervous System (PACNS)
  • Takayasu arteritis

Other Rheumatic Diseases

  • Autoinflammatory Diseases (Periodic Fever Syndromes)
  • Iritis/Uveitis
  • Juvenile Dermatomyositis
  • Inflammatory bone disease (Chronic noninfectious osteomyelitis, chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis)
  • Macrophage Activation Syndrome
  • Pediatric Sarcoidosis
  • Scleroderma (morphea, systemic sclerosis)