On Nov. 18, UM alumni, partners, faculty members, students and friends of the college will celebrate the 140th anniversary at a gala at the RBC Convention Centre. The event will raise funds for MD and grad student bursaries.

While the medical college has educated generations of physicians and served the community, it has also been a thriving centre for the advancement of medical science.

“We’re known for punching above our weight in terms of our research achievements,” says Peter Nickerson [B.Sc.(Med.)/86, MD/86], vice-provost (health sciences) and dean of the Max Rady College of Medicine and the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

“Each year, the college brings in more than $100 million in external research funding. Our investigators, including master’s and PhD students, conduct multidisciplinary research that influences health policy, improves patient care and saves lives.”

From innovative disease research carried out in labs and at hospital bedsides, to studies that give a voice to under-represented patient groups, to findings gleaned from one of the world’s richest storehouses of health data – the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository – the Max Rady College of Medicine is constantly generating new knowledge.

“Our strengths include being exceptionally collaborative, forging effective external partnerships and reaping the benefits of intergenerational chains of research mentors and mentees,” says Nickerson, a kidney specialist who is himself a distinguished research scientist.

In addition to the acclaimed faculty members and alumni who are laureates of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame – we’re spotlighting them in a list on Nov. 16 – here are 10 Max Rady College of Medicine research highlights that have made an indelible impact.

Dr. Lorrie Kirshenbaum

• In 1948, a cardiologist convinced nearly 4,000 air force veterans to enrol in a study of their cardiovascular health. The extraordinary project, based at UM and known as the Manitoba Follow-up Study, is one of the world’s longest-running health studies of a specific cohort. One of its findings in the 1990s was that shorter men are at greater risk of dying of heart disease than taller men. The study, now led by Robert Tate [M.Sc./75, PhD/00] and marking 75 years, is still tracking a handful of surviving participants. Meanwhile, UM scientists like Lorrie Kirshenbaum [B.Sc./86, M.Sc./88, PhD/92], Canada Research Chair in molecular cardiology, are engaged in leading-edge cardiovascular research. Kirshenbaum has earned international recognition for his work on cardiac cell death and its impact on the development of heart failure.

Dr. Edward (Ted) Lyons

• In the mid-1960s, UM radiologist Edward (Ted) Lyons [B.Sc./63, B.Sc.(Med.)/68, MD/68] became one of the earliest pioneers of ultrasound. His groundbreaking research helped to establish ultrasound as safe for fetuses and mothers, and his findings influenced hospitals across the globe to adopt the technology. Lyons led the first lab in Canada to perform general ultrasound. For years, he worked with manufacturers to evolve the technology from a machine the size of a refrigerator to a portable device no larger than a cellphone. He has called himself “a traveller on a stream of new imaging technology.”

Dr. Stephen Moses

• Frank Plummer [MD/76], who passed away in 2020, was a key member of a multigenerational chain of researchers who have worked for more than 40 years in partnership with the University of Nairobi, making high-impact discoveries in the area of sexually transmitted infections. In the late 1980s, Plummer led a UM team in discovering that some Kenyan women sex workers who had been exposed to HIV infection were naturally immune to it. This breakthrough provided vital new information for HIV vaccine and drug development. In 2007, UM’s Dr. Stephen Moses co-led a study showing that circumcision reduced the risk of HIV infection by 50 to 60 per cent in men who had heterosexual sex. This insight was named one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the year by Time magazine.

Dr. Heather Dean

• In the late 1980s, when Type 2 diabetes was considered an adult-only disease, UM pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Heather Dean and her colleagues made the startling discovery that some First Nations children in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario had the disease. They published the first paper about these children in 1992. Dean went on to work closely with First Nations communities to better understand the disease. Today, UM researchers continue to study many aspects of youth-onset Type 2 diabetes, including following a cohort of offspring of First Nations individuals who were first diagnosed as children.

Dr. Ryan Zarychanski (Photo: Doctors Manitoba)

• In 2012, a breakthrough by UM and CancerCare Manitoba scientists made the cover of Blood, the world’s top medical journal on blood disorders. The study, led by Dr. Ryan Zarychanski [B.Sc./95, B.Sc.(Med.)/00], identified the genetic mutation responsible for the hereditary blood disorder xerocytosis. Groundwork for this discovery had been laid 40 years earlier by UM hematologist Lyonel Israels [MD/49, M.Sc./50], founding father of CancerCare Manitoba. Zarychanski now holds the Lyonel G. Israels Research Chair in Hematology. This year, he was named Physician of the Year by Doctors Manitoba for leading international clinical research to rapidly assess potential treatments for COVID-19.

Dr. Gary Kobinger

Dr. Jason Kindrachuk

• During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, UM’s Dr. Gary Kobinger was chief of special pathogens at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. His team of UM and PHAC researchers co-developed an experimental antibody cocktail called ZMapp. In 2014, it was used in saving the life of an American doctor with Ebola – a dramatic event that made international headlines. Today, Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, Canada Research Chair in the molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses, is keeping UM on the map as a virus centre through his work on viruses such as Ebola, mpox and coronaviruses.

Dr. Marcia Anderson

• UM is a national leader in partnering with Indigenous communities in health research. In 2019, for example, a landmark joint study by the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba and the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy in the Max Rady College of Medicine illuminated the worsening health gap between First Nation people and all other Manitobans. This year, UM’s Marcia Anderson [MD/02] took a leadership role in making Manitoba the first province to systematically ask hospital patients to voluntarily declare their race, ethnicity or Indigenous identity. The purpose of collecting this data is to address racial inequities in health care.

Dr. James Blanchard

• In 2022, health research and programming in India led by James Blanchard [B.Sc.(Med.)/86, MD/86], executive director of the UM Institute for Global Public Health, received a major injection of support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding of US$87 million will support reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In total, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested US$280 million in international UM projects. The Institute for Global Public Health has been a world leader in forming partnerships to strengthen health systems and influence health policy, particularly in countries in Asia and Africa, says Blanchard, who holds a Canada Research Chair in epidemiology and global public health.

Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie

• An internationally renowned multiple sclerosis (MS) researcher at UM, neurologist Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie, directs the MS Clinic at Health Sciences Centre. This year, Marrie received a prestigious U.S. prize for her trailblazing body of work. She and her team were the first to explore the implications of comorbidities such as high blood pressure and heart disease in people with MS. She has also shown that the disease may have a “prodromal phase” that precedes the onset of specific MS symptoms. Her ongoing research is laying important groundwork for both prevention and improved treatment of MS.

Dr. Meghan Azad

• Meghan Azad [PhD/10] is a worldwide expert on the science of breast milk. She holds a Canada Research Chair in developmental origins of chronic disease at UM and is also a researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. This year, she and her team landed a grant of US$2.5 million from a prestigious U.S. funder, the National Institutes of Health. The project will include in-depth lab analyses of milk samples from 1,600 mother-child pairs, looking at breast milk in a way that is unique in the world. The data will then go to machine-learning experts at Stanford University, who will use artificial intelligence to explore it. The study is expected to generate the world’s largest and most detailed dataset of mothers, infants and breast milk.

The United States-based National Multiple Sclerosis Society honoured Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie, professor of internal medicine and community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, with the prize for her discoveries that deepen the understanding of how and when multiple sclerosis (MS) evolves.

“It’s a great honour to receive this prize,” said Marrie, who is also the Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at the Health Sciences Centre and an adjunct scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. “It provides validation that the work we’re doing is important, and that we should persist in doing it even in the face of all the challenges that researchers encounter.”

The 10^th annual prize recognizes Marrie as an innovator in the world of MS research. She has focused her research on new areas of study that have led to important discoveries that could one day lead to preventing MS.

“Dr. Marrie brings her perspective as a neurologist to ask research questions that are very relevant to improving people’s quality of life and providing answers that will increase our ability to stop and even prevent MS in the future,” said Dr. Bruce Bebo, executive vice-president of research programs at the National MS Society. “She is also incredibly generous and very effective as a volunteer who provides critical leadership to MS research initiatives on a global scale.”

Marrie and her team were the first researchers to delve deeply into comorbidity in people with MS. Comorbidities are coexisting health conditions that a patient might have, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Marrie showed that comorbidities are common in people with MS. She found that people with MS experienced delayed diagnosis, more relapses, faster disability progression, more hospitalizations, lower cognitive function and higher mortality rates.

Addressing comorbidities may reduce the impacts of MS, Marrie said. Her findings have informed treatment guidelines by the American Academy of Neurology, international MS Brain Health group and the Canadian Network of MS Clinics.

“I want to sincerely congratulate Dr. Marrie on this well-deserved honour and thank her for her tireless devotion to solving the mysteries of MS, particularly in a province with such a high rate of the disease. Her pivotal work has inspired researchers from around the world to study comorbidities in people with MS and in the time before diagnosis,” said Dr. Peter Nickerson, vice-provost (health sciences) and dean, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba.

In another trailblazing study, Marrie showed that people with MS increased their visits to see a doctor during the five years before their first MS symptom. She said this raised the possibility that MS has a prodromal phase, which is a period when a person experiences non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, and precedes onset of specific MS symptoms. This phase indicates that the disease has already started.

Marrie said the next step is for researchers to look at whether they can identify people before MS symptoms begin, which could be an opportunity to prevent the disease.  

“Receiving this award is an opportunity to make people aware of what we’re doing and hopefully bring it more attention and move the work forward,” Marrie said.

Her current research is setting the stage to determine whether more effective treatment of comorbidity in MS patients might offer a new avenue for slowing disease progression, Marrie said. She is also participating in a study to look at the prodromal phase in children.

Rick Waugh

UM alum Rick Waugh’s family is directly affected by MS. His sister-in-law, Claire Larson, a UM Kinesiology alum herself, was diagnosed with MS at a young age and has lived for many years with the disease. The Waugh family has witnessed the toll it can take, but it is her resiliency that inspired them to create and fund a Research Chair in Multiple Sclerosis at their alma mater. The goal of this work is to learn more about MS and how it affects patients living with other comorbidities to improve quality of life.

When asked about why World Multiple Sclerosis Day is important, Waugh says, “It can mobilize and increase awareness of the importance of funding that will hopefully raise enough internationally to end MS.”

In 2016, Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie was awarded the Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis to advance this vital research. The donation to create this Chair has allowed Dr. Marrie to focus her time and resources on how coexisting health conditions such as depression/anxiety disorders, diabetes or cardiac conditions may affect diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for MS patients.

“Our findings suggest that if we effectively detected and treated people’s depression/anxiety disorders, we could dramatically improve their quality of life,” says Dr. Marrie. “Our findings also suggest that other co-existing health conditions, such as diabetes, also affect MS. So all of that really raises the question of whether doing something about those coexisting health conditions could actually make MS better.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the availability of research resources over the past two years, but this dedicated funding has ensured Dr. Marrie’s research can continue uninterrupted.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs with research resources, so this funding has been important in allowing us to keep our team together to and retain their expertise in our research area,” Dr. Marrie says.

Not only does Canada have a high frequency of MS, but by province Manitoba has among the highest number of cases per capita in the country, which is another reason why Waugh and his family chose to give back. Though he lives in Toronto after relocating to be the CEO of Scotiabank, the now retired Waugh believes that philanthropy has a major role to play in the future of healthcare and UM is making those strides.

“Our family’s focus has been on people,” says Waugh. “That is why the chair is about getting the right people to make a difference. Funding research can make positive change in the health of people on a day-to-day basis through diagnosis, treatment and wait time.”

Days like World Multiple Sclerosis Day are a reminder that more work needs to be done. Researchers like Dr. Marrie and her team are making strides, but funding is the only way they can truly move the needle on MS.

Induction into the CAHS as a Fellow is considered one of the highest honours within Canada’s academic community. CAHS Fellows, who serve as unpaid volunteers, are nominated by their institutions and peers and selected in a competitive process based on their internationally recognized leadership, academic performance, scientific creativity and willingness to serve.

“These are two outstanding clinician-scientists who run innovative research programs that have made indelible impacts on the lives of so many around the world, and they have given so much of themselves to their research programs and training of the next generation,” says Dr. Digvir Jayas, vice-president (research and international) and Distinguished Professor at UM. “The University of Manitoba is very proud of them and congratulates them on this most deserved recognition.”

UM now has 31 Fellows in the CAHS.

About the inductees:

Keith Fowke

Dr. Keith Fowke

Professor and Head in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba.

His research focuses on biomedical HIV prevention and is based on cohort studies in Kenya. Dr. Fowke’s studies of individuals who are intensely exposed to HIV, yet remain uninfected, have been paradigm shifting and have led him to develop the “Immune Quiescence (IQ) hypothesis”. Today, Dr. Fowke’s team is currently testing a novel HIV prevention strategy using the safe, affordable and globally available anti-inflammatory drug, aspirin.

He demonstrates national leadership by chairing CIHR’s HIV advisory committee and as President of the Canadian Association for HIV Research, and he is also a founding member of the Prairie Infectious Immunology Network who has twice he appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health. Internationally, he helped established the HIV-Exposed Seronegative field and his important research is recognized for its innovation.

Dr. Fowke has published 120 peer reviewed papers that have been cited 6786 times, with the top publication being cited 568times, and 19 publications having >100 citations each.

Ruth Ann Marrie, an Associate Professor of Medicine & Community Health Sciences in the U of M’s College of Medicine, is the Principal Investigator leading the multidisciplinary research team.

Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie

Professor of Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, and Director of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Clinic at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, and holds The Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis.

Dr. Marrie is known internationally for her innovative work regarding the effect of comorbidity on people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a largely unexplored area in the field of MS before she began her work. In 2010, she published the first report suggesting that vascular comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension adversely affect disability progression in MS. Subsequently, she showed that comorbidity adversely affects relapse rates, treatment, mortality, and quality of life in people with MS. These findings have influenced research, clinical care and treatment guidelines and international quality standards for care.

She serves as Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee for the MS Society of Canada, and the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS. She is the Vice Chair-Elect of the Scientific Steering Committee for the International Progressive MS Alliance. She received the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation’s Distinguished Scientist Award in 2018.

She has a sustained record of research excellence as exemplified by her ability to obtain research funding from local, national and international organizations. She has authored or co-authored more than 325 peer-reviewed scholarly publications and 30 editorials and has given lectures throughout North America and Europe.

“The rates of IBD in Canada are among the highest in the world,” says lead author Heather Carney, a third-year pharmacy student, who was supervised by Dr. Kaarina Kowalec, assistant professor, College of Pharmacy, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. “Separately, IBD and substance use disorder have a significant impact on quality of life. Our research is among the first to investigate substance use disorder in IBD and provides a foundation for future research of the burden and harms of comorbid IBD and substance use disorder.”

IBD is an inflammatory condition, encompassing ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease, where the body launches inflammatory responses against the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in symptoms such as severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss and fatigue.

The study, conducted by Carney through a College of Pharmacy-funded Undergraduate Summer Research Award, also identified that people with IBD and who are men, smokers, those who have past or current anxiety disorders, and those with more pain are at greater risk for experiencing a substance use disorder.

For the study, Carney evaluated the prevalence and risk factors of substance use disorders in those with IBD using data collected from 247 individuals in Manitoba with IBD, recruited as part of a larger study investigating psychiatric comorbidities in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Carney says that while it has been established that there is a strong association between IBD and several psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, there was minimal prior research of the association between substance use disorder and IBD.

Carney says they hope to see more resources allocated for prevention and harm reduction to help decrease the burden of substance use disorder in those with IBD as well as in the general population. She also hopes to see future research on the effect of substance use disorder on outcomes in IBD, which are still unknown.

“The prevalence of substance use disorder in those with IBD suggests an opportunity for screening and targeted interventions. We know substance use disorder can have a profound effect on the individual and the community – including issues at school or work, relationship difficulties, behaviour changes and legal problems,” she says.

The study’s co-authors are University of Manitoba faculty members/researchers Ruth Ann Marrie, MD, PhD; James M. Bolton, MD; Lesley A. Graff, PhD; Charles N. Bernstein, MD; Kaarina Kowalec, PhD and University of Calgary faculty member Scott B. Patten, MD, PhD.

Launched in 2003, the Top 100 Awards celebrate the incredible accomplishments of Canada’s top female executive talent as well as their organizations and networks.

Award winners are proven achievers who are strong contributors to their organizations, their fields of endeavour and their communities.

“Drs. Farenhorst and Marrie are each contributing significantly to their fields of research and teaching in ways that build and enhance knowledge in each of their fields of scientific discovery,” said Digvir Jayas, vice-president (research and international) and Distinguished Professor at the U of M. “We are proud of their achievements and leadership, and congratulate them on this recognition.”

Farenhorst, a professor soil science in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, is a trailblazer on three fronts: for the advancements she has made in her science; for the leadership she provides in advancing women in science and engineering professions; and for her dedication to strengthening strategies for the recruitment, retention and success of Indigenous students in university programs.

She is among the most celebrated soil scientists in Canada, and her pioneering work includes the application of digital terrain modeling and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy in assessing the spatial variability of pesticide retention and transport in soil-landscapes.

She holds the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Chair for Women in Science and Engineering (CWSE) Prairie region.

She also leads the CREATE H2O program, funded by NSERC, for First Nations water and sanitation security that is designed to address research science and training gaps that are preventing effective, culturally appropriate investments in water and sanitation security on First Nations reserves. It is the first science-engineering research training program in Canada that combines technical water and wastewater management training with Indigenous theory, law and methodological skills training.

Marrie, a professor in the departments of internal medicine (neurology) and community health sciences at the Max Rady College of Medicine, is internationally known for her innovative work in epidemiology and her pioneering discoveries of the impact of comorbidity (co-existing health conditions) on people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The impact of comorbidity in MS was a novel avenue that had not been explored in the field of MS before she began her work.

Her research has generated multiple important observations. She published the first report suggesting that vascular comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, ischemic heart disease and peripheral vascular disease) adversely affect disability progression in MS. She has also identified that pre-existing comorbidity is associated with delays in diagnosing MS, more severe disability at diagnosis, and differences in clinical phenotype.

Most recently, she has shown that comorbidity increases the risk of hospitalization and mortality in MS. She has developed methods to use health insurance (claims) data to study comorbidity in MS, which are being adopted by researchers internationally.

The potential implications of her work are broad and highly clinically relevant. Her findings suggest that preventing and treating comorbidity may offer a new avenue for improving health outcomes in people with MS using therapies that are already available and less costly than MS-specific medications. The impact of this work is such that she was asked to join the prestigious International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS, and to lead an international effort to coordinate research on comorbidity in MS as the field moves forward.

Marrie is a Don Paty career scientist, director of the MS Clinic at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre and holds The Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis.

Farenhorst and Marrie will be honoured during a gala celebration at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on November 24. The U of M now has 12 women who have been named Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 since the awards began.

On June 13, the university named its newest research chair, Ruth Ann Marrie, as The Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis. The chair was established as a result of a $2 million gift to the Front and Centre Campaign from the Waugh Family Foundation, led by its founding members, Rick and Lynne Waugh.

“The research undertaken by Dr. Marrie and her team will move the knowledge about multiple sclerosis forward and have an impact on the thousands of Canadians currently living with this disease every day,” says Digvir Jayas, vice-president (research and international) at the University of Manitoba. “The Waugh family has made significant contributions to the betterment of Canadian society and our world through their philanthropic activity in social services, health and education and we are very grateful for their support.”

The Province of Manitoba also announced $1.1 million of funding to support MS research at the University of Manitoba.

“By coming together, we can invest in the future of research and help make a difference for so many Manitobans and their families,” says Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Kelvin Goertzen. “I know the provincial funding of $1.1 million dollars will help the new chair guide research that will lead to better understanding of the causes of multiple sclerosis and improving health for those directly affected by the disease.”

Marrie is a professor in the departments of internal medicine (neurology) and community health sciences at the Max Rady College of Medicine, a Don Paty career scientist and director of the MS Clinic at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre.

“I am honored to be the first person to hold the Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis Research,” says Marrie. “This research will support the continued expansion of our research program, which aims to understand the causes of MS, factors that influence outcomes in MS, and to improve the quality of life for affected persons and their families.”

The endowed chair is also generously supported by the MS Society of Canada, the Dr. Alfred E. Deacon Medical Research Foundation, and the department of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba.

U of M is one of nine research teams from across the country that will be supported by $21.9M in funding over five years by the Government of Canada through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and its partners, the Arthritis Society of Canada and Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. The projects were funded under CIHR’s Roadmap Signature Initiative on Inflammation in Chronic Disease.

Ruth Ann Marrie, an Associate Professor  of Medicine & Community Health Sciences in the U of M’s College of Medicine,  is the Principal Investigator leading the multidisciplinary research team along with Co-PI Charles Bernstein, Distinguished Professor; Professor, Internal Medicine; and Head, Section of Gastroenterology, U of M.

The U of M-based research team’s goals for the research project, “Defining the burden and managing the effects of psychiatric comorbidity in chronic immunoinflammatory disease,” are to examine the frequency and impact of psychiatric comorbidities (particularly depression and anxiety) on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Specifically, they will look at the impacts on the ability to work, pain, fatigue and quality of life.

The study will also look at the impact on health services and patients’ use of hospital visits, doctor visits and preventive care and identify the best tools for primary care physicians and specialists to screen for and manage psychiatric comorbidities. The long-term goal is to improve the diagnosis and management of these conditions.

“Our hope is that through this substantial investment, we will greatly impact our understanding of the psychiatric comorbidities among IBD, MS and RA patients,” says Dr. Marrie, Director, Multiple Sclerosis Clinic, Health Sciences Centre. “And ultimately, take steps to mitigate those psychiatric comorbidities resulting in a better quality of life for those living with IBD, MS and RA.”

Government of Canada News Release

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada’s health research investment agency. CIHR’s mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened health care system for Canadians. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 13,700 health researchers and trainees across Canada. 

The CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) is the hub for strategic initiatives in musculoskeletal (MSK), skin and oral health research in Canada. IMHA’s mandate is to support ethical and impactful research to enhance active living, mobility and oral health, and to address the wide range of conditions related to bones, joints, muscles, connective tissue, skin and teeth. IMHA is hosted by the University of Manitoba where its Scientific Director, Hani El-Gabalawy, is an internationally recognized rheumatologist, a Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Manitoba and a senior clinician scientist.

For more information contact Ilana Simon, Director of Communications & Marketing, College of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, 204-789-3427, (cell) 204-295-6777 or ilana.simon@umanitoba.ca