Curiosity About Rare Disease Sparked Research Passion for Perimeter Student Rashawn Thomas

CLARKSTON, Ga.— It’s called Myositis/Dermatomyositis, but abbreviated as “DM” in the medical community. It’s a rare disease that causes rashes and body fatigue for those who suffer from it, and its often misdiagnosed as lupus or other autoimmune diseases.

For Perimeter College honors student Rashawn Thomas, DM posed the perfect puzzle for her Honors research study. Was there a correlation between the disease and demographics and lifestyle? And why is so little known about the disease? She wanted to find out.

Under the guidance of her biology professor, Dr. Cynthia Foote, and with Georgia State approval for a research study, Thomas designed an anonymous survey to find as many patients as she can who may suffer from DM.

She will be presenting her research findings during the Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference (GSURC) on April 11.

Getting participants for her research excites Thomas, but if you had asked her two years ago that she would be an honors student studying a rare disease, she would not have believed it.

“I’m a non-traditional student who floundered for years after graduating high school,” she said. “I fell into a trap, and thought I wasn’t smart enough for college.”

After several different jobs, in 2020, she moved home to be a full-time caretaker for her ill mother who needed palliative care. When a nurse visited their home, Thomas noticed the difference between “nurses who engaged with my mom and talked and laughed and those who just spoke to me,” she said.

She realized that she wanted to be able to be a person who engaged with patients.

After her mother died, she applied to Perimeter College and enrolled in a health professions pathway, with an initial desire to go into the nursing program.

“I thought I’d give it a try and give myself at least a year to see how it goes,” she said.

At a Perimeter College open house, she saw the Honors College table.

“I talked with Dr. Brandon Balint (Clarkston honors coordinator), and I explained that I hadn’t been in school for a while. He said, ‘That’s fine, come on and give it try.’ I knew to get into honors I needed at least a 3.5 GPA so that was my goal at the end of the semester,” she said.

She achieved her goal, got into Honors and discovered a new passion: Thomas realized she loved research.

“I was taking honors Human Anatomy and Physiology, and our honors research project was to look at a specific disease and explain what it does to the body,” she said.

She found DM through a general Google search and began her study of the disease.

“The symptoms were vague — muscle fatigue and skin rash. I thought that can’t be all there is? Who even notices I am tired today and I have a rash on my arm? I picked DM because I wanted to learn more about it,” she said. “And as I learned more about it, I learned how little we know about it. It’s a rare disease in a set of rare diseases.”

Often it could take up to a decade to get properly diagnosed, and once diagnosed, treatments were less helpful, she said.

“It was, more or less, try this and see what works for you,” she said.

As of this time, there is no cure, only disease management.

After presenting her project in class, she continued her research under the University Assistantship Program.

“I knew there was a need for a different study, which would include a wider and more diverse demographic. It is my hope that continuing research will help with a faster diagnosis,” she said.

She credits her instructors and Dr. Foote for helping her fuel her research interest.

“I guess I never thought I could do these things, but I am surrounded by so many people here at Perimeter who told me there is no reason you can’t. I am in classes with students who could be my kids, but still being treated like I belong here,” she said.  “I’ve done things in the last two years I never would believe I would be capable of. It makes me look forward to the future.”

Thomas changed her pathway to Biology in May 2023, and hopes to add astronomy as a minor as well to study astrobiology. She hopes to transfer to Georgia State's Atlanta Campus in 2025.

Thomas’s anonymous survey is here, and on its own  Facebook page.

Story by Rebecca Rakoczy

Photo by Bill Roa