Professor Ranjeny Thomas is the Arthritis Queensland Chair in Rheumatology at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute in Australia. Professor Thomas’ work is focused on studying the biology of human dendritic cells in autoimmune diseases and their clinical application for treatments. Professor Thomas is known for her contributions to the field of immune tolerance and risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis and type I diabetes. This has led to an antigen-specific vaccine to treat rheumatoid arthritis, which is currently in clinical trials, a therapeutic platform for antigen-specific immunotherapy, and a new diagnostic test and immunotherapy for type I diabetes. She is also the founder and director of a spin-off company, Dendright, managing the development of vaccines to suppress autoimmune diseases.
Professor Linda Li is the Harold Robinson/Arthritis Society Chair in Arthritic Diseases, and Canada Research Chair in Patient-Oriented Knowledge Translation at the Department of Physical Therapy, University of British Columbia. She is also a Senior Scientist at the Arthritis Research Canada. Dr. Li’s research focus includes understanding the help-seeking experiences of people with early inflammatory arthritis and evaluating models of arthritis care. A key interest of hers, which ties in well to our meeting theme of Precision & Personalized Medicine in Rheumatology, is her collaborative efforts with digital media experts to develop and evaluate electronic tools for shared decision-making between clinicians and patients. She has been recognized for her outstanding work in the arthritis field with the Michael Smith Foundation Health Research Career Investigator award, among many others.
Professor Marvin Fritzler is a prominent Canadian Rheumatologist, recognized internationally for his contributions to the field of rheumatology by improving the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. He was inducted as a Master of the American College of Rheumatology in 2013, ten years after being recognized by the CRA with the designation of Scientist of the Year. Dr. Fritzler has served as Chair of the Alberta Research and Innovation Authority. He has published over 420 peer-reviewed manuscripts with more than eleven thousand citations. For his work in molecular diagnostics with autoantibodies, which underpin the precise diagnosis of several autoimmune conditions, Dr. Fritzler recently received the Carl R Jolliff Award for Lifetime Achievement in Clinical and Diagnostic Immunology from the American Association of Clinical Chemistry. It is a tremendous pleasure to welcome him back this year as the CRA’s 2017 Dunlop Dottridge Lecturer.
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