Bryanna Mantilla, M.D., Ph.D.

Bryanna Mantilla (they/them) is a rheumatologist and a native of the Washington, D.C., area. Attending the unique experience-based Goddard College for undergraduate studies, Mantilla engaged in original research conducting illness narratives with undocumented and guestworker farmworkers in North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as studying traditional medicine and autonomous health care delivery in Chiapas, Mexico. Afterwards, Mantilla attended the post-baccalaureate premedical program at American University in Washington, D.C. During this time, Mantilla also completed a master’s in public health from Nova Southeastern University.

Desiring to continue their research in health and social inequities, Mantilla chose to attend the medical scholars program, an M.D.-Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They earned a Ph.D. in sociology with a concentration in race, class and gender. Their dissertation work used qualitative methods to examine “undocumentedness” as a major social determinant of health for Latin American immigrants in Washington, D.C. During this time, Mantilla worked with the medical school to help enhance their curriculum with attention to health inequities. They won several awards for this work and were inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

Mantilla returned to Washington, D.C., to complete residency in the internal medicine residency program at The George Washington University. Following residency, Mantilla completed rheumatology fellowship training at the University of Washington in Seattle, engaging in primary research on disparities in axial spondyloarthritis which was supported by fellowship research grants provided by the Arthritis Foundation and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. They also served on the DEI committee for the Arthritis Foundation and for UW Rheumatology. They have been selected as an American College of Rheumatology distinguished fellow for 2023.

Mantilla’s current research interests center on bringing a sociological and structural critical lens to the practice of rheumatology. Their current research seeks to examine health inequalities for historically excluded and diverse patients living with axial spondyloarthritis (ankylosing spondylitis), especially with regards to the role of racial-ethnic disparities and social determinants of health in delay to diagnosis and provision of advanced therapies. At The University of Texas, they are engaged in research examining the role of immigration, language and race-ethnicity in rheumatologic disease outcomes.