CRAJ Spring 2018

Spring 2018 (Volume 28, Number 1)

Regional News from Alberta

Updates from Calgary

Cheryl Barnabe, MD, FRCPC, MSc

Grant Funding Success for Calgary

Eminent pediatric and adult rheumatologists from Calgary, including Drs. Susa Benseler, Marvin Fritzler, Marinka Twilt and Dianne Mosher, and scientist Dr. Deborah Marshall, were successful in securing a $10 million grant from Genome Canada in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to transform the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis through better identification of the right drug for the right patient.

Retirement of Nurse Extraordinaire Terri Lupton

On a lovely spring evening in 2017, we celebrated the career of Terri Lupton, who put Calgary on the map for developing a city-wide Central Triage Unit, while also mentoring countless nurses joining the Division of Rheumatology since 2006. In her honor, an annual “Terri Lupton Lecture” has been established.

Terri Lupton and Dr. Dianne Mosher

Rheumatologist Featured on CBC

Dr. Paul MacMullan, infamous for covering citywide call at four hospitals and one outpatient clinic site from the back of a bike (roundtrip of over 100 km), was recently featured on the local CBC news for persisting through the series of large snow dumps Calgary has seen this winter. He added to his notoriety by getting fellow Irishman Dr. Liam Martin up to sing “Ring of Fire,” a local anthem for the Calgary Flames, at our Division Christmas party, held at the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Dr. Paul MacMullan and Dr. Liam Martin

Updates from Northern Alberta

Joanne Homik, MD, MSc, FRCPC; and
Stephanie Keeling, MD, MSc, FRCPC

News from the University of Alberta

The Division of Rheumatology at the University of Alberta welcomed their new Division Director, Dr. Jan Willem Cohen Tervaert in the fall of 2017. He received his MD and PhD in the Netherlands with his thesis on ANCA autoantibodies. He brings with him a fresh Dutch perspective and a large body of work in the field of vasculitis and immunology. He is also a former Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Dutch Arthritis Foundation. The division is eager to see where he takes us!

Filling the position of Program Director for the Division is Dr. Carrie Ye, a University-of-Alberta-trained rheumatologist. She has also started a multidisciplinary clinic for the management of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. She replaces Dr. Steven Katz who has moved into the role of Program Director for the Core Internal Medicine Program.

Dr. Jan Willem Cohen Tervaert and Dr. Carrie Ye

Also at the University of Alberta, we are delighted to have two recent rheumatology resident graduates pursue extra training to further enrich our division. Dr. Sarah Troster is excited to embark on her Master's in Education while also collaborating with other rheumatologists in Western Canada to create a pregnancy and rheumatic disease registry. Dr. Natalie Maclean is currently working on her Master's in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health and will explore patient-related outcomes in inflammatory arthritis as part of her thesis. Dr. Mohamed Osman continues the second year of his research fellowship in immunology and has started a clinical immunology clinic, collaborating with a multi-specialty group to create expertise in clinical immunology.

Dr. Steven Katz, Dr. Sarah Troster, and Tobi Leder

News from Recent Graduates

With the recent surge of rheumatology applicants, we are thrilled to send our recent graduates into the real world. Dr. Evelyn Kwok has moved to Kelowna to join Dr. Stuart Seigel while Dr. Norm Madsen is madly scanning joints and seeing patients in northwest Edmonton, as well as expanding his own family. Drs. Jason Soo and Tharindri Dissanayake have opened up a new office across the street from the University of Alberta – Garneau Rheumatology. We are thrilled to work with our new rheumatology colleagues.