Rheumatology Resources
Divisional Leadership
Residency Program Director
Dr. Dharini Mahendira (effective July 1, 2025)
Fellowship Program Director
For inquiries, please reach out to the Program Coordinator at rheumatology@toronto.ca.
City-Wide Rheumatology Rounds
December 13, 2024 | Vasculitis: Never Routine – Never Boring
Location: 89 Chestnut Street, 2nd Floor - University Room
Toronto, ON M5G 1R1
8:00am Registration & Light Breakfast
8:30am Program begins
12:30pm Program Concludes
Speakers:
Dr. Medha Soowamber
Dr. Rae Yeung
Dr. Christian Pagnoux
Dr. Parameswaran Nair
Dr. Richard Swartz
October 11, 2024 | On the Precipice: Towards Disease, Modifying Therapy in Osteoarthritis
Location: 89 Chestnut Street, 2nd Floor - University Room
Toronto, ON M5G 1R1
8:00am Registration & Light Breakfast
8:30am Program begins
12:30pm Program Concludes
Speakers:
Dr. Tom Appleton
Dr. Philip Conaghan
Dr. Tonia Vincent
January 19, 2024 | Corticosteroids in Rheumatoid Arthritis – Current Knowledge and Suggested Project to Address Existing Gaps
Registration
8:30am to 12:30pm EST
Location: 89 Chestnut Street, 2nd Floor - Giovanni Room
Toronto, ON M5G 1R1
8:00am Registration & Light Breakfast
8:30am Program begins
12:30pm Program Concludes
Speakers:
Lihi Eder
Maarten Boers
Tim Kwok
December 8, 2023 | Bone: not as simple as we thought.
Registration
8:30am to 12:00pm EST
Location: 89 Chestnut Street, 2nd Floor - Giovanni Room
Toronto, ON M5G 1R1
8:00am Registration & Light Breakfast
8:30am Program begins
11:45am Program Concludes & Lunch will be available
Speakers:
Heather McDonald-Blumer
Robert Rottapel
Lianne Tile
Sandra Kim
October 20, 2023 | Axial Spondyloarthritis: Past Breakthroughs, Current Advances
8:00am to 12:00pm EST
Location: 89 Chestnut Street, 2nd Floor - Giovanni Room
Toronto, ON M5G 1R1
Speakers:
Denis Poddubnyy
Sinead Maguire
Zoya Qaiyum
Aki Nakamura
Laura Passalent
Zeynep Baskurt
Archita Srinath
Fataneh Tavasolian
April 21, 2023 | Celebrating our Research Community: PART 1
Event Registration
8:00am to 11:45am EST, In-Person
Location: 89 Chestnut St, Toronto, ON M5G 1R1 (Giovanni Room)
Highlighted Programs
PsA Program
Transition and QI
Lupus Program
Annual Ogryzlo Research Day
June 24, 2025| Keynote Speakers: Dr. Dana Orange, MD, MSc & Dr. Matthew Stoll, MD, PhD, MSCS
Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2025 Time: 12pm to 5:30pm Location: Vantages Venue For further details: Please reach out to Mark at rheumatology@toronto.ca
June 25, 2024 | Keynote Speaker: Professor Costantino Pitzalis MD, PhD, FRCP
“Molecular Portraits of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Defining Clinical and Treatment Response EndoPhenotypes, Towards Precision Medicine”
Costantino Pitzalis is Versus Arthritis Professor of Rheumatology and Director of the Centre for Centre for Experimental Medicine and Rheumatology at the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London.
His research interests focus on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of inflammation and autoimmunity in chronic rheumatic conditions particularly rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
He leads a Research Team of approximately 50 Researchers (Clinicians/Scientists) and published over 350 peerreviewed papers in the field of inflammation, immunity and arthritis (h-index:76 / Citations: 18612).
He has been bestowed numerous awards including in 2021 the Heberden Medal/Oration the highest honour attributed by the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) and, among others, the Gerald Weissmann Prize, New York University School of Medicine, the EULAR/AMGEN Prize and the BSR Michael Mason Prize.
He has pioneered the development of minimally invasive ultrasound-guided biopsy and was the Chief Investigator of the first two worldwide biopsy-driven stratified-medicine randomised clinical trials (RCTs): STRAP and R4RA.
These trials led to the first description of specific synovial pathobiological patterns linked to clinical and treatment response phenotypes in early arthritis, established and refractory (multi-drug resistant) RA. They defined specific synovial molecular signatures that have paved the way to a set of new trials, funded by the EU Commission through the Horizon Europe programme.
These trials aim at testing the clinical utility of the molecular profile in the synovial biopsy to accurately allocate targeted therapies and may lead to the transformation of clinical practice through the development of new diagnostics to predict treatment response and define prognosis, as well as a new taxonomy of disease integrating molecular pathology into clinical algorithms.
June 20, 2023 | Keynote Speaker: Brad H. Rovin, MD, FASN, FACP
“We finally have approved drugs for Lupus Nephritis: So now what?”
Dr. Brad H. Rovin is the Lee A. Hebert Professor of Nephrology. Dr. Rovin received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Illinois Medical School in Chicago, Illinois. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis Missouri, and a Fellowship in Nephrology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. He joined the College of Medicine Faculty in 1990, became Director of the Division of Nephrology in 2004, and served as Vice Chairman of Medicine for Research from 2009‐2019. In 2019 he became the Medical Director of the Ohio State University Clinical Research Management Institute.
Dr. Rovin has had several leadership roles in the American Society of Nephrology, including running the Glomerular Diseases Pre‐Course and Co‐Editing NephSAP‐Glomerular Diseases, a continuing education program of the Society. Most recently he was appointed Deputy Editor of Kidney International, the flagship journal of the International Society of Nephrology. He also is Co‐Chair for glomerular disease guideline development for the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes effort.
Dr. Rovin studies the immunopathogenesis of glomerular and autoimmune diseases. He is heavily involved in clinical trial development and design for investigator‐initiated and industry‐sponsored trials. He is a founding member of NephroNet, a grass‐roots nephrology community clinical trial organization, and the Lupus Nephritis Clinical Trials Network. He is and has been the Principal Investigator on several trials of novel therapeutics for glomerular diseases.
June 21, 2022 | Keynote Speaker: Peter A. Merkel, MD, MPH
“Update on the Treatment of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis”
Dr. Merkel is the Chief of Rheumatology and a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Merkel is an internationally recognized research and clinical expert in vasculitis and scleroderma and is an author on over 400 scientific publications. He is the Principal Investigator of the NIH-Sponsored Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC), a leading international research infrastructure for vasculitis clinical investigation. Dr. Merkel’s research focuses on clinical trial design and conduct, outcome measure development, clinical epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, and biomarker discovery.
Dr. Merkel received his MD from Yale University, his MPH from Harvard University, completed his residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and his fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Merkel has received the majority of his research support from the National Institutes of Health, the US Food and Drug Administration, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, with additional funding from industry sources and private foundations.
Residency Program
Program Contacts
Dr. Dana Jerome, Program Director
dana.jerome@wchospital.ca
Dr. Dharini Mahendira, Program Director (effective July 1, 2025)
Mark Bhola, Program Coordinator (covering for Melanie)
rheumatology@utoronto.ca
Chief Medical Resident
rheumchief.utoronto@gmail.com