Joan Appleyard, MD

Houston Rheumatologist

Joan Appleyard, MD, is a founding partner of Rheumatology Associates of Houston and has been in private practice since 1994. She is a board-certified rheumatologist specializing in the treatment of arthritis, rheumatic diseases such as lupus, and localized musculoskeletal disorders such as tendonitis and bursitis. Dr. Appleyard has additional training and expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. Her areas of specialization include treatment of inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis.

Dr. Appleyard grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. She attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenneesse, and then returned to the University of Florida where she completed a graduate program in Immunology. After receiving her Master of Science degree, she worked at Shands Teaching Hospital at the University of Florida in the field of Immunogenetics.

Dr. Appleyard received her MD degree from the University of Miami. She completed her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, and became board-certified in Internal Medicine. She went on to complete a 3-year fellowship in Rheumatology at the University of Texas-Houston.

She is on the volunteer teaching faculty of the University of Texas Department of Internal Medicine and is a past board member of the South Texas Branch of the Arthritis Foundation. She is a member of the American College of Rheumatology, the Texas Medical Association, and the Harris County Medical Society.

In her free time, Dr. Appleyard enjoys watching her son’s soccer games, her daughter’s lacrosse games, and cheering for the University of Florida Gators.

Click here to view Dr. Appleyard's Curriculum Vitae