Dr. Dvergsten is a physician scientist and is the co-director of the Duke-Cure JM Center of Excellence in Juvenile Inflammatory Myopathies and principal investigator of the Cure JM grant supporting the center of excellence. He is the principal investigator of the Duke Myositis Biorepository. His research activities include investigating disease mechanisms in JM using -omics technologies, development of a biophysiological model of myositis, and evaluation of new drug therapies. Underscoring the difficulty of rare disease research, many of these activities are in collaboration with other JM researchers and clinicians. Dr. Dvergsten, along with Dr. Ardalan, is committed to developing and expanding the clinical, research, educational, and advocacy aims of the Duke-Cure JM Center of Excellence.