Winter 2025 (Volume 35, Number 4)

Pediatrics Committee Update

By Nadia Luca, MD, FRCPC, MSc

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Members of the CRA Pediatrics Committee at the CRA ASM in Calgary (February 2025).

The CRA Pediatrics Committee is a diverse and active group of 95 pediatric rheumatologists, trainees and researchers from across Canada. The Pediatrics Executive oversees the work of several subcommittees including Human Resources, Education, and many working groups. The Pediatrics Executive currently consists of: Dr. Nadia Luca (Chair), Dr. Lillian Lim (Vice-Chair and CRA board liaison), Dr. Audrea Chen (Secretary), Dr. Bobbi Berard (Past-Chair), and Dr. Mercedes Chan (Member-at-Large).  Starting in November 2025, we will welcome a pediatric rheumatology trainee representative, Dr. Daphne Cheung.

The Pediatrics Committee members have been very busy over the last twelve months, offering a variety of educational opportunities in addition to producing manuscripts and guidance materials.Here is a summary of some of the important work they have completed over the past year:

• The Canadian Autoinflammatory Case Rounds (CANaC) Steering Committee offered two presentations for pediatric members: “A Year in Review for SAIDs” (Presented by Dr. Erkan Demirkaya) and “Spectrum of Behcet’s: Beyond the Basics” (Presented by Drs. Lori Tucker and Dilan Dissanayake).

• The Education Subcommittee offered two accredited National Grand Rounds webinars: “Planetary Health” (presented by Dr. Stephanie Tom) and “Changing Rheums: A Day in the Life of a Young Adult with a Rheumatic Disease, reviewing the new CRA Transition Clinical Practice Guidelines” (presented by Drs. Nadia Luca, Elizabeth Stringer, Ms. Julie Herrington and Ms. Emma Linsley).

• Drs. Evelyn Rozenblyum and Piya Lahiry gave a workshop at the Canadian Pediatric Society Meeting in Quebec City entitled: “Bugs, drugs and joints: Everything you ever wanted to know about infectious arthritis but were too afraid to ask!”

• The HR Subcommittee published their qualitative study describing models of pediatric rheumatology care across Canada, led by Drs. Molly Dushnicky, Jennifer Lee and Deb Levy - “Pediatric Rheumatology Care in the Canadian Context: A Qualitative Analysis of Care Providers” (DOI: 10.3899/jrheum.2024-0965)

• The newly developed Transition Clinical Practice Guidelines were presented in a workshop at the CRA ASM by Natasha Trehan, Julie Herrington, Dr. Nadia Luca and Dr. Elizabeth Stringer.

Nadia Luca, MD, FRCPC, MSc
Chair, CRA Pediatrics Committee
Associate Professor of Pediatrics,
University of Ottawa
Chief, Division of Dermatology and Rheumatology,
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario