CRAJ Summer 2024

Summer 2024 (Volume 34, Number 2)

Awards, Appointments, and Accolades

Dr. Philip Baer – Life Membership in the Ontario Medical Association

Dr. Philip Baer has been granted Life Membership in the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the work of the Association, the medical profession and medical science or common good in Ontario. Dr. Baer is the Chair of the OMA Section on Rheumatology and a member of the OMA Awards and Recognition Committee. He has served as a Delegate to OMA Council and received the OMA Section Service Award in 2012.

Dr. Gilles Boire – CRA Master Award^*

It is a great honour to receive a 2024 CRA Master Award, and I wish to thank my rheumatology peers.

After thirty-five years in practice and basic and translational research, I am in the process of retiring. I remain Adjunct Professor at the University of Sherbrooke, to contribute to some of the ongoing research initiatives. I transferred my long-term patients to younger colleagues, but I still evaluate new children’s referrals, as there will be a hiatus of a few months before a recruit takes over this clientele, bringing the Division to 11 rheumatologists.

To the Rheumatology Community, I wish you well.

Dr. Vinod Chandran – Appointed as Vice President, GRAPPA

Dr. Vinod Chandran, a rheumatologist and Associate Professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, was appointed as the co-vice president of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) and will commence his three-year term after the GRAPPA annual meeting on July12-13, 2024. GRAPPA is a global not-for-profit professional organization that aims to promote patient care, education, and research in psoriatic disease, including cutaneous and arthritic manifestations as well as comorbidities. Members include rheumatologists, dermatologists, people with lived experience with psoriatic disease, methodologists, and representatives of the biopharmaceutical industry. During his term, Vinod intends to provide leadership to enhance global research and educational collaborations to make GRAPPA truly representative of all stakeholders in the care of patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

Dr. Jan Willem Cohen Tervaert – CRA Master Award^*

I am humbled to receive a 2024 CRA Master Award.

Thanks to the CRA, my University of Alberta colleagues, and my patients with either ANCA- associated vasculitis or with breast or mesh implants that developed Autoimmune/inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants (ASIA).

My journey as a clinician-scientist started in 1984. What a joy it was that in 1986/1987 our group discovered antibodies to myeloperoxidase (MPO-ANCA) and to proteinase 3 (PR3-ANCA) in patients with vasculitis. In 2017, I started together with Dr. Mo Osman a translational lab at our university, where our work focuses on fatigue in rheumatic diseases.

Dr. Bianca Lang – CRA Master Award^*

I am honoured to receive a 2024 CRA Master Award, and grateful to my colleagues for their nomination.

In turn, I would like to recognize my mentors from Sick Kids: Ron Laxer, Earl Silverman, and the late Abe Shore. These wonderful individuals inspired me to become a pediatric rheumatologist 35 years ago, when there were none in the Atlantic provinces. They prepared me to establish our programme at the IWK.

I’m really encouraged to see the very active involvement of pediatric rheumatologists in the various initiatives of the CRA. Reflecting, I recall the fruitful collaboration with my adult rheumatology colleagues (notably Carter Thorne, Arthur Bookman, and Michel Zummer) that laid the groundwork for this. Together, we developed a compelling proposal for the establishment of a Pediatric Rheumatology Section (now termed Committee) within the CRA. It’s clear that including pediatric rheumatology in the CRA has been a significant achievement for both rheumatology and patients across Canada.

Enormous strides have been made in the care of children with rheumatic diseases over the course of my career. However, there is still a lot to do, and I’m excited about the strides we‘ll collectively make in care, education, and research.

Dr. Jane Purvis – OMA Section Service Award

Dr. Jane Purvis has received the 2023 Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Section of Rheumatology Service Award in recognition of outstanding leadership abilities toward shaping the future of medicine. Dr. Purvis has held various roles at the OMA, including Section of Rheumatology Vice Chair, and has worked with the Ontario government on improving access to advanced therapeutics, vaccines for immunocompromised patients, getting anti-CCP antibodies and ANCA paid for through the provincial lab system, and the recent introduction of biosimilars to the province. Dr. Purvis is continuing to represent rheumatologists at the provincial level.

^*The designation of Master is conferred on CRA members, age 65 or older by December 31st of the year in which they are nominated, who have excelled in one or more of the following ways:

1. outstanding service to patients;

2. outstanding administrative service (e.g. involvement in a provincial college, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, provincial or national medical association, provincial rheumatology association or the Canadian Rheumatology Association);

3. excellence in rheumatology teaching and education;

4. excellence in rheumatology research.

The CRAJ would like to recognize the contributions of its readers to the medical field and their local communities. To have any such awards, appointments, or accolades announced in an upcoming issue, please send recipient names, pertinent details, and a brief account of these honours to JyotiP@sta.ca. Picture submissions are greatly encouraged.