Schroeder Arthritis Institute Newsletter March 2021

MEET THE INSTITUTE'S EXECUTIVE TEAM

The Schroeder Arthritis Institute is comprised of two executive committees, the Clinical Executive Committee and the Research Executive Committee. These committees are comprised of membership that integrates our leaders in care, education and research.

The Clinical Executive Committee is comprised of Anette Larsson (Campaign Director, Campaign to Cure Arthritis), Angela Cheung (Division Head, Osteoporosis Program), Christian Veillette (Division Head, Orthopedics), Fayez Quereshy (Vice President, Clinical, Schroeder Arthritis Institute, University Health Network), Heather Baltzer (Division Head, Hand Program), John Flannery (Medical Director, MSK & Complex Medical Rehab Program, Toronto Rehab Institute), Jorge Sanchez-Guerrero (Division Head, Rheumatology), Leanna Graham (Director, Professional Practice & Policy, UHN), Lori Albert (Education Lead, Schroeder Arthritis Institute), Maria Morales (Administrative Coordinator), Mohit Kapoor (Schroeder Arthritis Institute Co-Director), Rajiv Gandhi (Program Medical Director, Altum Health), Robert Inman (Schroeder Arthritis Institute Co-Director), Samra Mian-Valiante (Director, Strategic Projects Schroeder Arthritis Institute), Shiran Isaacksz (Vice President, Altum Health & Business Development), Silvi Groe (Clinical Director, Schroeder Arthritis Institute), and Zsolt Hering (Director of Finance, UHN).

The Research Executive Committee is comprised of Anette Larsson (Campaign Director), Angela Cheung (Research Lead, Osteoporosis), Dafna Gladman (Research Lead, Rheumatology), Donald Weaver (Director, Krembil Research Institute), Heather Baltzer (Research Lead, Hand), Igor Jurisica (Informatics Lead), Katerina Oikonomopoulou (Research Trainee Education Lead), Mohit Kapoor (Schroeder Arthritis Institute Co-Director), Raja Rampersaud (Research Director, Orthopedics), Robert Inman (Schroeder Arthritis Institute Co-Director), and Sarah Gabrial (Administrative Coordinator).

Here are some helpful Schroeder Arthritis Institute contacts:

Sequencing Centre: Starlee.Lively@uhnresearch.ca
Metabolomics Centre: Nikita.Looby@uhnresearch.ca
Biobank operations: Kim.Perry@uhnresearch.ca and Julie.Gagnier@uhnresearch.ca
Orthopedics clinical research: Luis.Montoya@uhn.ca
Rheumatology clinical research: Daniel.Pereira@uhnresearch.ca
Hand clinical research: Daniel.Antflek@uhn.ca
Osteoporosis clinical research: Irene.Ho@uhn.ca

For any other inquiries: Sarah.Gabrial@uhnresearch.ca

SAVE THE DATE

 

Special Seminar by Dr. Karim Khan, Scientific Director of CIHR-IMHA

The Schroeder Arthritis Institute is pleased to host a special seminar by Dr. Karim Khan, Scientific Director, Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (CIHR-IMHA). Dr. Khan will discuss the "Current state of Arthritis Research in Canada and new CIHR-IMHA initiatives" on May 11, 2021 at 8 AM EDT.

Join us using the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88054055642?pwd=YnZxbEF4UVhxdStIeDN6aEdMVjIzdz09
Passcode: 908525

NEW APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS

J. Bernard Gosevitz Chair in Arthritis Research at UHN

Dr. Raja Rampersaud has been appointed as the inaugural J. Bernard Gosevitz Chair in Arthritis Research at UHN. Dr. Rampersaud is an Orthopedic Surgeon and the Director of the Osteoarthritis Research Program within the Division of Orthopedics at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, and a clinical investigator at the Krembil Research Institute.

 

 

Scientist

Dr. Vinod Chandran has been appointed as a Scientist at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute and the Krembil Research Institute. Dr. Chandran is a Rheumatologist at the Toronto Western Hospital and Co-Director of the Psoriatic Arthritis Program.

Scientist

Dr. Zahi Touma has been appointed as a Scientist at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute and the Krembil Research Institute. Dr. Touma is a Rheumatologist at the Toronto Western Hospital.

 

 

Associate Professor

Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan, Scientist at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute and the Krembil Research Institute, has been promoted to Associate Professor at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Research Trainee Education Lead

Dr. Katerina Oikonomopoulou, Scientific Associate under the supervision of Dr. Vinod Chandran, has been appointed as the Research Trainee Education Lead of the Schroeder Arthritis Institute. In this role, Katerina will be coordinating the Schroeder Arthritis Institute Fellowship Program and Pilot Grant Program as well as creating the Schroeder Arthritis Institute Annual Trainee Events.

 

 

Physician

Dr. Shirine Usmani has recently joined the Osteoporosis Program as a physician. She completed her undergraduate degree and MD/PhD program at Western University. Her graduate work focused on musculoskeletal biology, specifically studying signal​ling pathways involved in skeletal development and osteoarthritis. Dr. Usmani completed a residency in endocrinology at the University of Toronto.

AWARDS, GRANTS AND RECOGNITIONS

 

CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis Priority Announcement

Dr. Vinod Chandran, Scientist and Rheumatologist, secured funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for his project titled "Identifying Metabolomic Markers of Disease Activity in Psoriatic Disease Using Solid Phase Microextraction – Liquid Chromatography – High Resolution Mass Spectometry".

Emerging Investigator Award

Dr. Zahi Touma, Rheumatologist and Scientist at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, received the Canadian Rheumatology Association's “Emerging Investigator Award”. This award is given in “recognition of a Canadian investigator who has contributed significant, original research in rheumatology”. You can learn more about Dr. Touma's award here.

 

Collaborative CIHR Grant

The multicentre collaborative project between Dr. Guangju Zhai from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Drs. Mohit Kapoor and Rajiv Gandhi from the Schroeder Arthritis Institute was successful in the recent CIHR grant competition. The team secured funding for their project titled "Refining the molecular endotypes for precision medicine of osteoarthritis".

 

MD Program Teaching Excellence Award in 2019-2020

Dr. Michael Zywiel, an Orthopedic Surgeon, was a recipient of the MD Program Teaching Excellence Award in 2019-2020 for Orthopedics and has received a Teaching Evaluation Score in the top 10% in one or more of the teaching activities to which he has contributed at the University of Toronto.

Carolyn Thomas Award for Best Scientific Abstract

DLaura Passalent, Physiotherapist Practitioner and Clinician Investigator at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, received the Arthritis Health Professions Association's Carolyn Thomas Award for Best Scientific Abstract. The title of the abstract is "Perceptions, Facilitators and Barriers of Physical Activity in Axial Spondyloarthritis: Results from a Qualitative Study".

 

 

Best Abstract on Clinical Epidemiology Research by a Trainee – Phil Rosen Award

Kimberley Yuen was awarded the Best Abstract on Clinical Epidemiology Research by a Trainee – Phil Rosen Award at the Canadian Rheumatology Association meeting. Kimberley is a medical student from Queen’s University who has worked under Dr. Zahi Touma's supervision for the last two years.

Best Abstract on Basic Science Research by a Trainee

Dr. Andrew Kwan received an award at the Canadian Rheumatology Association for Best Abstract on Basic Science Research by a Trainee. Andrew is a second year internal medicine resident who has been working with Dr. Touma on various projects since medical school.

 

Arthritis Health Professions Association (AHPA) Clinical Innovation Award

Marcia Correale, Tamara Gotal, Andrew Courchene, Marsha Alvares, Emily May, and Leslie Soever, Physiotherapist Practitioners at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, were presented with the Clinical Innovation Award at the AHPA Annual General Meeting held virtually March 2, 2021, for their work on urgent implementation of virtual care, for patients with spine, shoulder/elbow, hip/knee and foot/ankle conditions.

"Since 2008, Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation’s (TGWHF) Honour Your Hero program has provided patients and their families with an opportunity to express gratitude to UHN staff for their care, compassion and kindness, while also making an impactful gift. Quarterly, TGWHF will be sharing a listing of members who have been honoured by the generous donors through the program."

A number of the Schroeder Arthritis Institute members have received this honor repeatedly. You can see the full list here.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

This award will provide seed funding to support innovative and collaborative research proposals aligned with its primary objective for the advancement of arthritis-related research. All submissions will undergo external peer review. The application deadline is April 30, 2021. You can learn more about the grant, eligibility criteria and application process here.

his award will provide partial stipend/salary support for two Graduate Students (MSc or PhD) and two Research Fellows (post-MD or post-PhD) who are actively engaged in research within the Schroeder Arthritis Institute. All submissions will undergo external peer review. The application deadline is May 31, 2021. You can learn more about the grant, eligibility criteria and application process here.

The Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) is relaunching the “PILOT PROJECT RESEARCH PROGRAM” this year which provides seed funding to support research proposals aligned with its primary objective for the advancement of spondyloarthritis (SpA)-related research. SPARCC will provide one-year seed grant to be awarded on a competitive basis to innovative proposals in the area of SpA research. SPARCC aims to approve 3 to 4 awards in 2021 to successful applicants. Here is more information about SPARCC Pilot Project Research Program 2021.

NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS

A Meta-analysis of Level I Evidence Comparing Tenotomy versus Tenodesis in the Management of Long Head of Biceps Pathologys

Zhu X, Leroux T, Ben-David E, Dennis B, Gohal C, Kirsch J, Khan M. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

Abnormal alpha band power in the dynamic pain connectome is a marker of chronic pain with a neuropathic component

Kisler LB, Kim JA, Hemington KS, Rogachov A, Cheng JC, Bosma RL, Osborne NR, Dunkley BT, Inman RD, Davis KD. NeuroImage: Clinical. March 2020.
Click here for publication.

Back Dominant Pain Has Equal Outcomes to Radicular Dominant Pain Following Posterior Lumbar Fusion in Adult Isthmic Spondylolisthesis: A CSORN Study

PAlnaghmoosh N, Urquhart J, Raj R, Abraham E, Jacobs B, Phan P, Johnson M, Paquet J, Nataraj A, McIntosh G, Fisher C, Rampersaud Y, Manson N, Hall H, Rasoulinejad P, Bailey C. Global Spine Journal. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

Consensus terminology for preclinical phases of psoriatic arthritis for use in research studies: results from a Delphi consensus study

Perez-Chada L, Haberman R, Chandran V, Rosen C, Ritchlin C, Eder L, Mease P, Reddy S, Ogdie A, Merola J, Scher J. Nature Reviews Rheumatology. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

Correspondence - MicroRNA-34a-5p and joint destruction

Kapoor M. Clinical Connections - Arthritis and Rheumatology. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Motion-Preserving Operations for Wrist Arthritis

Retrouvey H, Sander B, von Schroeder HP, Binhammer P, Baltzer HL. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. November 2020.
Click here for publication.

Depression and Anxiety Reduce the Probability of Achieving a State of Sustained Minimal Disease Activity in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis

Wong A, Ye JY, Cook RJ, Gladman DD, Chandran V. Arthritis Care & Research. March 2021.
Click here for publication.

Dual trajectories of fatigue and disease activity in an inception cohort of adults with systemic lupus erythematosus over 10 years

Moazzami M, Strand V, Su J, Touma Z. Lupus. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

Exploring the Mental Health Needs of Persons With Autoimmune Diseases During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Proposed Framework for Future Research and Clinical Care

Bingham KS, Rozenbojm N, Chong-East M, Touma Z. ACR Open Rheumatology. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

Factors Associated With Rapid Progression to Endstage Kidney Disease in Lupus Nephritis

Tselios K, Gladman D, Taheri C, Su J, Urowitz M. The Journal of Rheumatology. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

HLA, Immune Response, and Susceptibility to COVID-19

Tavasolian F, Rashidi M, Hatam GR, Jeddi M, Hosseini AZ, Mosawi SH, Abdollahi E, Inman RD. Frontiers in Immunology. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

Incidence of and Risk Factors for Heart Failure in Patients with Psoriatic Disease - A Cohort Study

Koppikar S, Colaco K, Harvey P, Akhtari S, Chandran V, Gladman D, Cook R, Eder L. Arthritis Care and Research (Hoboken). February 2021.
Click here for publication.

Integrative analysis of layers of data in hepatocellular carcinoma reveals pathway dependencies

Bhat M, Pasini E, Pastrello C, Rahmati S, Angeli M, Kotlyar M, Ghanekar A, Jurisica I. World Journal of Hepatology. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

International comparative study of low back pain care pathways and analysis of key interventions

Coeckelberghs E, Verbeke H, Desomer A, Jonckheer P, Fourney D, Willems P, Coppes M, Rampersaud R, van Hooff M, van den Eede E, Kulik G, de Goumoëns P, Vanhaecht K, Depreitere B. European Spine Journal. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

Lumbar Fusion Surgery for Patients With Back Pain and Degenerative Disc Disease: An Observational Study From the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network

Evaniew N, Swamy G, Jacobs W, Bouchard J, Cho R, Manson N, Rampersaud Y, Paquet J, Bailey C, Johnson M, Attabib N, Fisher C, McIntosh G, Thomas K. Global Spine Journal. January 2021
Click here for publication.

Malignancy in psoriatic disease: Results from prospective longitudinal cohorts

Polachek A, Muntyanu A, Lee K, Ye J, Chandran V, Cook R, Gladman D. Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

Mechanical Stiffness Controls Dendritic Cell Metabolism and Function

Chakraborty M, Chu K, Shrestha A, Revelo XS, Zhang X, Gold MJ, Khan S, Lee M, Huang C, Akbari M, Barrow F, Chan YT, Lei H, Kotoulas NK, Jovel J, Pastrello C, Kotlyar M, Goh C, Michelakis E, Clemente-Casares X, Ohashi PS, Engleman EG, Winer S, Jurisica I, Tsai S, Winer DA. Cell Reports. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

Mesenchymal Stromal Cell variables influencing clinical potency: the impact of viability, fitness, route of administration and host predisposition

Galipeau, J, Krampera, M, Leblanc, K, Nolta, JA, Phinney, DG, Shi, Y, Tarte, K, Viswanathan, S, Martin, I. Cytotherapy. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

MicroRNA-34a-5p promotes joint destruction during Osteoarthritis

Endisha H, Datta P, Sharma A, Nakamura S, Rossomacha E, Younan C, Ali SA, Tavallaee G, Lively S, Potla P, Shestopaloff K, Rockel JS, Krawetz R, Mahomed NN, Jurisica I, Gandhi R, Kapoor M. Arthritis and Rheumatology. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

New EULAR/ACR 2019 SLE Classification Criteria: defining ominosity in SLE

Whittall Garcia L, Gladman D, Urowitz M, Touma Z, Su J, Johnson S. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

Paradox of circulating TRMs. Response to: ‘Gut-derived CD8+ tissue-resident memory T cells are expanded in the peripheral blood and synovia of SpA patients’ by Guggino et al.

Qaiyum Z, Gracey E, Yao Y, Inman RD. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. December 2019.
Click here for publication.

Patient-Reported Outcomes After Complex Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery: 5-Year Results of the Scoli-Risk-1 Study

Zuckerman S, Cerpa M, Lenke L, Shaffrey C, Carreon L, Cheung K, Kelly M, Fehlings M, Ames C, Boachie-Adjei O, Dekutoski M, Kabeaish K, Lewis S, Matsuyama Y, Pellisé F, Qiu Y, Schwab F, Smith J. Global Spine Journal. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

Predicting Toxicity and Response to Pembrolizumab Through Germline Genomic HLA Class 1 Analysis

Iafolla M, Yang C, Chandran V, Pintilie M, Li Q, Bedard P, Hansen A, Lheureux S, Spreafico A, Razak A, Hakgor S, Giesler A, Pugh T, Siu L. JNCI Cancer Spectrum. December 2020.
Click here for publication.

Proteinase-Mediated Macrophage Signaling in Psoriatic Arthritis

Abji F, Rasti M, Gómez-Aristizábal A, Muytjens C, Saifeddine M, Mihara K, Motahhari M, Gandhi R, Viswanathan S, Hollenberg MD, Oikonomopoulou K, Chandran V. Frontiers in Immunology. March 2021.
Click here for publication.

Real-World Effectiveness of Belimumab in the Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Pooled Analysis of Multi-Country Data from the OBSErve Studies

Collins C, Cortes-Hernández J, Garcia M, von Kempis J, Schwarting A, Touma Z, Kurtinecz M, Gairy K. Rheumatology and Therapy. December 2020.
Click here for publication.

Systemic lupus erythematosus symptom clusters and their association with patient-reported outcomes and treatment: Analysis of real-world data

Touma Z, Hoskin B, Atkinson C, Bell D, Massey O, Lofland J, Berry P, Karyekar C, Costenbader K. Arthritis Care and Research (Hoboken). December 2020.
Click here for publication.

The baseline interferon signature predicts disease severity over the subsequent 5 years in systemic lupus erythematosus

Mai L, Asaduzzaman A, Noamani B, Fortin P, Gladman D, Touma Z, Urowitz M, Wither J. Arthritis Research & Therapy. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

The future of deep phenotyping in osteoarthritis: how can high throughput omics technologies advance our understanding of the cellular and molecular taxonomy of the disease?

Mobasheri A, Kapoor M, Ali SA, Lang A, Madry H. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open. February 2021.
Click here for publication.

The impact of multijoint symptoms on patient-reported disability following surgery for lumbar spine osteoarthritis

Perruccio AV, Power JD, Yip C, Badley EM, Canizares M, Rampersaud YR. The Spine Journal. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

Transfer from Pediatric to Adult Care Is Hardly Child's Play

Steiman A, Touma Z. The Journal of Rheumatology. January 2021.
Click here for publication.

ARTHRITIS IN THE NEWS

Check out the Schroeder Arthritis Institute's new Twitter account here for the latest Arthritis news.