Every year the faculty are involved in teaching medical and dental students as well as medical residents either during ward rotations or rheumatology electives. Rheumatology research months are also available for residents and students interested in pursuing a career in rheumatology. Fellows are encouraged to develop continuity clinics in rheumatology in order to gain more experience and to learn more about managing patients with chronic disease.

Santhanam Lakshminarayanan, M.D., associate professor of medicine, is a graduate of the University of Poona, India and a board-certified rheumatologist. He completed his residency and fellowship at the UConn School of Medicine. He is chief of the Division of Rheumatology and director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program. He is activity director of the rheumatology continuing medical education program. He is on the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) subcommittee for medical student and resident education and the ACR New England Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) program development for rheumatology fellows. Dr. Lakshminarayanan’s areas of expertise are in systemic lupus and scleroderma. He published papers on phospholipid antibody syndrome, Raynaud’s phenomenon, bone density, and systemic lupus erythematous.

Ranadeep Mandhadi, M.D., is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the UConn School of Medicine and the UConn Musculoskeletal Institute. Dr. Mandhadi is a graduate of Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences, Chicago, Illinois and he completed his rheumatology fellowship training at UConn School of Medicine. He is a member of the clinical competency committee for fellowship education and the program improvement evaluation committee. He joined the Rheumatology faculty in 2014. He is a board-certified rheumatologist with interests in autoimmune connective tissue diseases including lupus, Sjögren's syndrome, scleroderma, and inflammatory arthritis including rheumatoid arthritis, seronegative spondylarthritis, and gout. He is trained in musculoskeletal ultrasound examination. His research interests are in lupus, scleroderma, vasculitis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

John Waterman, M.D., is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the UConn School of Medicine. Dr. Waterman is a graduate of the University of Vermont College of Medicine where he received his medical degree. He is the site director for the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program as well as a rheumatologist and academic internist at the VA Medical Center, Newington, CT. He is a member of the clinical competency committee for fellowship education and the program improvement evaluation committee. Dr. Waterman is a retired Colonel USAF MC FS. Dr. Waterman’s areas of expertise are in rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, joint and soft tissue injections, and fibromyalgia. Dr. Waterman has published papers on biologics in the treatment of rheumatic disease, tender point injections in fibromyalgia, and B-cell lymphoma in Sjögren's syndrome.