One of Dr. Barland's current professional interests is a continuing effort to apply diagnostic laboratory tests to the autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions.  As director of the immunodiagnostic laboratory he has overseen the development and application of new technology such as FACS to the automated detection of a number of autoantibodies.  He hopes to incorporate newer tests in the near future for testing for procalcitonin- an acute phase reactant that appears useful in differentiating sepsis from flares of connective tissue disease. 

Dr. Barland's interests also include promoting health care reform.  He has lectured widely on the advantages of single payer health care and on the restructuring of the paradigm for the delivery of care for chronic diseases.  He has served on the Board of the New York Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and on the Ethics Committee of the National Physicians Alliance (NPA).

Dr. Barland has coauthored a number of Web-based CME programs for Cyberounds, including ones on the role of Vitamin D in rheumatoid arthritis with Dr. Anna Broder, on the hemophagocytic syndrome in the connective tissue diseases with Dr. Arlene Tieng, and on the IgG4 syndrome with Dr. Peguy Saad, a visiting resident.