Dr. Ann Clarke

Biography

I am a Professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Calgary and hold the Arthritis Society Chair in Rheumatic Diseases. I am an established investigator in the epidemiology, economics, and outcomes of rheumatic diseases, particularly systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Between 1997 and 2013, I was Co-Director of the McGill University Health Centre Lupus Clinic, one of the largest such clinics in North America, and in 2013, I instituted and am the current Director of the University of Calgary Lupus Centre of Excellence. I am the immediate past Chair of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC), a group of world-renowned lupus investigators. As such, I have contributed to the development of both the SLICC and European League Against Rheumatism/ American College of Rheumatology (EULAR/ACR) Classification Criteria for SLE, which are more clinically relevant than the previous criteria, and are now the accepted standard for identifying patients for trials and observational research. We have produced standardized measures for lupus disease activity and damage that are fundamental to all lupus research and conducted pivotal longitudinal cohort studies on cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, renal, and economic outcomes. I have contributed to an international task force (Definition of Remission in SLE: DORIS) that is re-defining optimal management strategies in SLE. Through numerous national and international collaborations, my research team has assembled the largest-ever international SLE cohort and provided the first definitive evidence on the association between SLE and malignancy. I have received support from numerous Canadian and American peer-reviewed granting agencies and charitable organizations, have published over 400 manuscripts, and am very engaged in the training of the next generation of lupus clinicians and investigators.