Arthritis Newsletters April 2020

NEW APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS

New Education Lead

Dr. Lori Albert has been appointed as the Education Lead for the Arthritis Program. Dr. Albert completed her undergraduate and postgraduate medical training at the University of Toronto. She is currently a Rheumatologist at TWH and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Albert has a particular interest in undergraduate education. She has also been involved in resident education both locally and at the national level.

New Associate Education Lead

Laura Passalent has been appointed as the new Associate Education Lead for the Arthritis Program. Laura is an Advanced Practice Physiotherapist at TWH and a clinician-investigator at the Krembil Research Institute. She obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Health Science in Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Toronto. She is a certified Advanced Practitioner in Arthritis Care, having graduated from the ACPAC program.

Arthritis Program Director of Finance

Lili Chen is the new Director of Finance for the TW Site Lead, Arthritis Program, and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation portfolios. Lili is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA) and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Toronto. She has been a part of UHN for over 12 years. More recently, she spent almost a year and a half as the Business Manager for the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and the last two years as the Senior Manager of the Procurement Management Office.

International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT) Board of Directors Member

Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan, a Krembil Scientist in the Arthritis Program, has been elected to serve on the ISCT Board of Directors. Dr. Viswanathan's term of position will be from June 2020 - 2022.

Full Professor

Dr. Mohit Kapoor, Arthritis Program Research Director, has been promoted to Full Professor within the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Kapoor is a senior scientist at Krembil and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Mechanisms of Joint Degeneration.

New Physician in the Division of Endocrinology

Dr. Miranda Boggild joined the Arthritis Program in April 2020. She has an interest in metabolic bone disease and will have a clinical focus in the Osteoporosis Program. She has been mentored by Dr. Angela Cheung and has been involved in research in osteoporosis throughout her medical training. She also has an interest in medical education, having worked as the Chief Medical Resident at Toronto General Hospital from 2016-2017 and having completed a Master of Science in Community Health focusing on medical education.

AWARDS, GRANTS AND RECOGNITIONS

CIHR Catalyst Grant: Addressing Musculoskeletal Conditions and Arthritis in Canadians

Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Raja Rampersaud, TWH Orthopedic Surgeon, and Dr. Anthony Perruccio, Krembil Scientist, secured funding through the 2020 CIHR Catalyst Grant for their project titled "Understanding who does and does not respond to an interprofessional education and self-management model of care for chronic low back pain".

CIHR - Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) Grant

Dr. Zahi Touma, Krembil Clinician Investigator and Rheumatologist at TWH, secured the IMHA Priority Announcement Funding for the project titled "Modeling cognitive impairment in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: Clinical phenotyping, predictive trajectory and associated risk factors".

CIHR - The Canadian Epigenetics, Environment and Health Research Consortium (CEEHRC)

Principal Investigator Dr. Mohit Kapoor, Arthritis Research Director and Senior Scientist at Krembil, and Co-Investigators Dr. Rajiv Gandhi, Altum Health Medical Director and Orthopedic Surgeon, and Dr. Igor Jurisica, Senior Scientist at Krembil secured funding through CIHR CEEHRC Priority Announcement Funding for their project titled “Role and therapeutic potential of MicroRNA-34a-5p”.

Canadian Rheumatology Association Master Award Recipients

Dr. Robert Inman, Dr. Dafna Gladman, Dr. Murray Urowitz and Dr. Arthur Bookman, Rheumatologists at TWH, were named as Canadian Rheumatology Association Master Award Recipients. This is the first year for this award that was awarded to 27 investigators.

2019 TAS Award Winners

The Arthritis Society offers travel awards to support trainees to attend the Canadian Arthritis Research Conference took place February 25-26, 2020 in Victoria, British Columbia. Four of the Arthritis Program trainees received this award: Brian Wu, Mabel Chan, Dr. S. Amanda Ali, and Dr. Razieh Rabani.

Awards at the Canadian Rheumatology Association

Kimberley Yuen, a medical Student at Queen’s University, working under the supervision of Dr. Zahi Touma, won the Ian Watson Award for Best Abstract on SLE Research by a Trainee. Carolina Munoz-Grajales, a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Joan Wither, was awarded Best Abstract by a Post-Graduate Research Trainee. Anas Samman, an undergraduate Science Student, working under the supervision of Dr. Vinod Chandran, won Best Abstract on Spondyloarthritis Research.

Krembil 2019 Fall Postdoctoral & Clinical Fellowship Award

Dr. Helal Endisha, a postdoctoral fellow supervised by Dr. Heather Baltzer, was one of three recipients of the Krembil 2019 Fall Postdoctoral & Clinical Research Fellowship Award. The proposals of the three winners can be viewed here.

2019 ORT Travel Award

Dr. Razieh Rabani, a postdoctoral fellow supervised by Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan, received one of nine travel awards given out by the Office of Research Trainees at UHN to attend the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) World Congress 2020.

Connaught Global Fibrosis Network Travel Award

Brian Wu, a PhD candidate supervised by Dr. Mohit Kapoor, received the Connaught Global Fibrosis Network Travel Award. This award supports attending the Summer School in Fibrosis Research 2020 which will be held in Bergen, Norway.

Japan College of Rheumatology (JCR) Travel Award

Dr. Jason Rockel, a research associate at Dr. Mohit Kapoor and Dr. Armand Keating's laboratories, received a travel award to attend the 2020 JCR conference.

RESEARCH DAYS

Arthritis Program Town Hall Event 2020

On February 10, 2020, a town hall event was held to share information about the latest news regarding strategic updates on the alignment of clinical, research and education areas within the Arthritis Program. During this important event, future plans for the Arthritis Program were unveiled and shared with the Arthritis Program community. Special remarks were made by Dr. Bradly Wouters, Dr. Brian Hodges and Dr. Donald Weaver. Special thanks to all attendees and speakers who came to our event.

Let’s Stop OA: Development and Testing of an Intervention to Manage Knee Osteoarthritis Risk Factors after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury

As part of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant, Dr. Aileen Davis, Senior Scientist at Krembil, and Dr. Jas Chahal, Orthopedic Surgeon at TWH, along with a number of national investigators organized a two-day stakeholder workshop February 28 and 29, 2020 to co-design an intervention to help people with ACL injuries manage their risk OA factors. Forty attendees from BC, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia included people with ACL injury, primary care sports physicians, sports orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists and athletic trainers. Primed by research team presentations, consensus exercises were conducted to determine the content of the intervention, when, by whom and through what media to best deliver the intervention. Next steps include developing the intervention prototype for testing.

NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS

TYK2 inhibition reduces type 3 immunity and modifies disease progression in murine spondyloarthritis

Gracey E, Hromadová D, Lim M, Qaiyum Z, Zeng M, Yao Y, Srinath A, Baglaenko Y, Yeremenko N, Westlin W, Masse C, Müller M, Strobl B, Miao W, Inman R. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. March 2020. 
Click here for publication.

Ixekizumab treatment of biologic-naïve patients with active psoriatic arthritis: 3-year results from a phase III clinical trial (SPIRIT-P1)

Chandran V, van der Heijde D, Fleischmann RM, Lespessailles RM, Helliwell PS, Kameda H, Burgos-Vargas R, Erickson JS, Rathmann SS, Sprabery AT, Birt JA, Shuler CL, Gallo G. Rheumatology (Oxford). February 2020. Click here for publication.

Altered Cytotoxicity Profile of CD8+ T Cells in Ankylosing Spondylitis

Gracey E, Yao Y, Qaiyum Z, Lim M, Tang M, Inman RD. Arthritis & Rheumatology. March 2020. Click here for publication.

2019 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology Classification Criteria for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Journal 1: Aringer M, Costenbader K, Daikh D, Brinks R, Mosca M, Ramsey-Goldman R, Smolen JS, Wofsy D, Boumpas DT, Kamen DL, Jayne D, Cervera R, Costedoat-Chalumeau N, Diamond B, Gladman DD, Hahn B, Hiepe F, Jacobsen S, Khanna D, Lerstrøm K, Massarotti E, McCune J, Ruiz-Irastorza G, Sanchez-Guerrero J, Schneider M, Urowitz M, Bertsias G, Hoyer BF, Leuchten N, Tani C, Tedeschi SK, Touma Z, Schmajuk G, Anic B, Assan F, Chan TM, Clarke AE, Crow MK, Czirják L, Doria A, Graninger W, Halda-Kiss B, Hasni S, Izmirly PM, Jung M, Kumánovics G, Mariette X, Padjen I, Pego-Reigosa JM, Romero-Diaz J, Rúa-Figueroa Fernández Í, Seror R, Stummvoll GH, Tanaka Y, Tektonidou MG, Vasconcelos C, Vital EM, Wallace DJ, Yavuz S, Meroni PL, Fritzler MJ, Naden R, Dörner T, Johnson SR. Annals of Rheumatic Diseases. September 2019. Click here for publication.

Journal 2: Aringer M, Costenbader K, Daikh D, Brinks R, Mosca M, Ramsey-Goldman R, Smolen JS, Wofsy D, Boumpas DT, Kamen DL, Jayne D, Cervera R, Costedoat-Chalumeau N, Diamond B, Gladman DD, Hahn B, Hiepe F, Jacobsen S, Khanna D, Lerstrøm K, Massarotti E, McCune J, Ruiz-Irastorza G, Sanchez-Guerrero J, Schneider M, Urowitz M, Bertsias G, Hoyer BF, Leuchten N, Tani C, Tedeschi SK, Touma Z, Schmajuk G, Anic B, Assan F, Chan TM, Clarke AE, Crow MK, Czirják L, Doria A, Graninger W, Halda-Kiss B, Hasni S, Izmirly PM, Jung M, Kumánovics G, Mariette X, Padjen I, Pego-Reigosa JM, Romero-Diaz J, Rúa-Figueroa Fernández Í, Seror R, Stummvoll GH, Tanaka Y, Tektonidou MG, Vasconcelos C, Vital EM, Wallace DJ, Yavuz S, Meroni PL, Fritzler MJ, Naden R, Dörner T, Johnson SR. Arthritis and Rheumatology. September 2019. Click here for publication.

Fatigue severity in anti-nuclear antibody-positive individuals does not correlate with pro-inflammatory cytokine levels or predict imminent progression to symptomatic disease

Hafiz W, Nori R, Bregasi A, Noamani B, Bonilla D, Lisnevskaia L, Silverman E, Bookman AAM, Johnson SR, Landolt-Marticorena C, Wither J. Arthritis Research & Therapy. 2019. Click here for publication.

An exploratory analysis of spine patients’ preoperative concerns and decision-making process; does what surgeons say matter?

Matthies N, Keshen S, Lewis S, Webster F, Perruccio AV, Rampersaud YR. Spine. February 2020. Click here for publication.

Yip C, Badley EM, Power JD, Canizares M, Perruccio AV. ACR Open Rheumatology. March 2020. Click here for publication.

Perruccio AV, Got M, Li S, Ye Y, Gladman DD, Chandran V. The Journal of Rheumatology. March 2020. Click here for publication.

Canizares M, Gleenie A, Perruccio AV, Abraham E, Ahn H, Attabib N, Christie S, Johnson MG, Nataraj A, Nicolls F, Paquet J, Phan P, Rasoulinejad P, Manson N, Hall H, Thomas  K, Fisher  CG, Rampersaud YR. The Spine Journal. March 2020
. Click here for publication.

Fei JZ, Perruccio AV, Ye J, Gladman DD, Chandran V. Rheumatology (Oxford). January 2020. Click here for publication.

Health care utilization and costs for spinal conditions in Ontario, Canada – opportunities for funding high-value care: a retrospective cohort study

Rampersaud YR, Power JD, Perruccio AV, Paterson M, Veillette C, Badley EM, Mahomed NN. The Spine Journal. January 2020. Click here for publication.

The development of a modified Psoriatic Arthritis Disease Activity Score (mPASDAS) using SF-12 as a measure of quality of life

Perruccio AV, Got M, Li S, Ye Y, Gladman DD, Chandran V. Arthritis Care and Research. April 2020. Click here for publication.

New Review Series on "Mechanisms of Fibrosis".

This review series with Dr. Mohit Kapoor as the editor has been published in the Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology. This issue is comprised of 9 review articles focused on several issues of fibrosis in health and disease. Each review article is written by scientists who are experts in their field.

Editor: Kapoor M. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology. January 2020. Click here for publication.