This past year has been a very important one of the Division of Rheumatology at St. Michael's Hospital, (SMH), both in terms of individual honors and divisional accomplishments.

Two members of our division were promoted: Dr. Louise Perlin to Associate Professor and Dr. Robert Rottapel to Professor of Medicine.

Dr. Perlin’s promotion was based upon her teaching excellence, recognized in the past and again this year with a Departmental award. Her recognition in the annual reviews, her completion of the University of Toronto Master teaching program this year, and her many the formal honours speaks to the commitment that she has made to education.

Dr. Rottapel is an internationally recognized scientist who has made substantial contributions to the field of signal transduction. This area is of key relevance in autoimmune and malignant disease. In addition to his research program, he has taken on an important administrative role at Princess Margaret Hospital. He is Head, Division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Ontario Cancer Institute. As well as, Senior Scientist, Division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Ontario Cancer Institute. This type of cross institutional involvement is critical to the success of academic medicine in Toronto.

Dr. Rachel Shupak has successfully organized and completed the first year of the Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Arthritis Care (ACPAC) program that is being recognized widely as a potential model for addressing the need for MSK practitioners’ in both under serviced regions as well a major urban centres. She was an invited speaker at this year’s Ontario Association of Rheumatologists where the program was very well received. Five candidates successfully completed this accredited program (supported by the Arthritis Society, Wyeth and the SMH Foundation). Dr. Shupak also organized the 4th Annual Arthritis Day for Primary Care Practitioners in the fall of 2005 which was as very well attended and received. This past year’s theme was Practical Solutions to Common Problems Osteoarthritis: Emerging Trends in 2005

Clinical recruitment has proceeded apace with Dr. Shahin Jamal (nee Walji) joining SMH Rheumatology as of July (Clinical Associate) and January 1, 2007(Full-time staff). Dr. Jamal is completing her Masters in Clinical Epidemiology and will develop a program aimed at improving access to care for inflammatory rheumatic disorders, specifically Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Dr. Catherine Molloy ( UK) will be joining the Division in the fall as Junior Associate to undertake post graduate studies for up to two years. She has received external funding for this program.

The Rheumatology clinical program in the Martin Family Center for Arthritis Care and Research, was reorganized this year to go “electronic”, the first clinical site in the hospital to do so. Future efforts will focus on patient data collection via external web sites and external tests incorporation to improve efficiencies.

This past summer, a project entitled Lab Utilization, initiated in collaboration with SMH Laboratories (Marion Dias, Director) and funded by external grants form industry and internal hospital funds, is developing new laboratory panels for rheumatologic specific tests. It is anticipated that these will be incorporated in to the soon to be activated order entry system, and if successful similar approaches will be adapted for different medical and surgical subspecialties and imaging.

Finally, though she has moved to Bath UK, to head the Ankylosing Spondylitis research program at the National Hospital for the Rheumatic Diseases, Dr. Millicent Stone not only maintains an active role in the SMH Spa clinic (ably staffed by Dr. Jody Lewtas and the MFC Pts) she has had time to deliver a healthy baby girl (Grace) in the spring of 2006 and visit Toronto to do a clinic only 6 weeks after giving birth!

Noteworthy Publications;

Bakal CJ, Finan D, LaRose J, Wells CD, Gish G, Kulkarni S, DeSepulveda P, Wilde A, Rottapel R. The Rho GTP exchange factor Lfc promotes spindle assembly in early mitosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Jul 5;102(27):9529-34. Epub 2005 Jun 23.

Wu L, La Rose J, Chen L, Neale C, Mak TW, Okkenhaug K, Wange R, Rottapel R. CD28 Regulates the Translation of Bcl-X L via the PI3K/mTOR Pathway. J. Immunol. 174(1):180-94 (2005).

Bakal CJ, Wu C, Finan D, Neale C, Rottapel R. A RhoGEF/dynein complex that activates Rho is required for spindle assembly. Proc Natl Acad Sci. USA. 5;102:9529-34 (2005).

Stone MA , Warren B, Bruckel J, Cooper D, Cortinovis D, Inman RD. Juvenile onset Ankylosing Spondylitis is associated with worse functional outcomes than adult onset AS. Arthritis Care Res 2005; 53(3):445-451

Maksymowych WP, Inman RD, Salonen D, Dhillon SS, Krishnananthan R, Stone M, Conner-Spady B, Palsat J, Lambert RGW. The Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) Magnetic Resonance Imaging Index for Assessment of Spinal Inflammation in Ankylosing Spondylitis. Arthritis Rheum 2005; 53(4):502-509.

Maksymowych WP, Inman RD, Salonen D, Dhillon SS, Williams M, Stone M, Conner-Spady B, Palsat J, Lambert RGW. Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada Magnetic Resonance Imaging Index for Assessment of Sacroiliac Joint Inflammation in Ankylosing Spondylitis. Arthritis Rheum 2005; 53(5):703-9

Pham T, Landewé R, van der Linden S, Dougados M, Sieper J, Braun J, Davis J, Rudwaleit M, Collantes E, Ruben Burgos-Vargas R, John Edmonds J, Ignazio Olivieri I, van der Horst-Bruinsma I, Mielants H, Stone M, Emery P, van der Heijd D. An International Study on Starting TNF-blocking agents in Ankylosing Spondylitis (ISSAS). Ann Rheum Dis 07 Feb 2006 (Epub ahead of print)

van Oene M, Wintle RF, Liu X, Yazdanpanah M, Gu X, Newman B, Kwan A, Johnson B, Owen J, Greer W, Mosher D, Maksymowych W, Keystone E, Rubin LA, Amos CI, Siminovitch KA . Association of the lymphoid tyrosine phosphatase R620W variant with rheumatoid arthritis, but not Crohn's disease, in Canadian populations. Arthritis Rheum. 2005 Jul;52(7):1993-8.

Johnson Sr. Gardiner G. Rubin LA. Intrathoracic Arteritis: a paraneoplastic presentation of malignant melanoma. J. Rheumatol. 2006Apr 33(4):820-1.

Rohekar S, Rubin LA. Development of polymyositis after long-standing rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol. 2006 Feb;33(2):362-3.

Archives:

2004-2005 Annual Report
2003-2004 Annual Report