LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TEAM
Dr. Maggie Larché, BSc, MBChB, MRCP (UK), PhD
Currently Dr. Maggie Larché, MBChB PhD MRCP(UK), holds the position of Professor, Division of Rheumatology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. She is Past-President of the Canadian Rheumatology Ultrasound Society and Chair of the Hamilton Scleroderma Group as well as the director of the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group.
Her major clinical interest is in scleroderma and early inflammatory arthritis, with research interests in cellular and imaging biomarkers.
She completed a BSc (honours) in 1988 and a medical degree from the University of Bristol, UK, in 1993. This was followed by a PhD in immunology/cellular biology at the National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College, London, UK.
Her Rheumatology training (2001-2006) was completed in London, UK, and included 2 years of a post- doctoral fellowship at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College, London.
Sabrina Hoa, MD, MSc, FRCP
Co-Director
General Board Member
Sabrina Hoa, MD, MSc, FRCP, is a rheumatologist at the Centre hospitalier de Université de Montréal (CHUM), an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal, and a clinician scientist at the CHUM Research Centre. Dr. Hoa completed a post-doctoral fellowship in systemic sclerosis and a Master’s in Epidemiology at
McGill University. Her thesis focused on the role of immunosuppressive treatments in mild interstitial lung disease associated with scleroderma, as well as on the role of immunosuppressive treatments in the prevention of lung disease. Her research was selected by The Arthritis Society as one of the Top 10 Research Breakthroughs in 2019.
Her research is currently focused on therapeutic approaches and predictors of progression in mild forms of interstitial lung disease associated with scleroderma and on the role of treatments in the prevention of complications associated with scleroderma.
Janet Pope, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Vice Chair
Dr. Janet Pope is a Professor of Medicine and member of the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), Schulich School of Medicine, London, Ontario, Canada. Her research includes studies in scleroderma, SLE and RA. She has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles. She has received the Distinguished Investigator Award from the Canadian Rheumatology Association, Rheumatologist of the Year from the Ontario Rheumatology Association, Department of Medicine Research Achievement Award, and the Dean’s Award of Excellence in Research. She has been inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the highest achievement for a health care professional in Canada.
J. Carter Thorne, M.D., FRCPC, FACP, MACR
Treasurer
Dr. Thorne is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and is on the Consultant Staff at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, where he was Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Director of The Arthritis Program; the latter was a unique interprofessional care program established to optimize outcomes for people who have arthritis and other rheumatic disorders. He is sought for his expertise in developing outcome-based clinical programs, not only in arthritis care but also shared care in a Comprehensive Musculoskeletal Program, Wound Management and NeuroRehab/Stroke Care.
He is active in Clinical Research as Principal Investigator with The Arthritis Program Research Group, Inc. As part of a strategic interest in identifying ‘Best Practices’, he has established an Early Arthritis Clinic, collaborating with a national initiative, CATCH—of which he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee and Operations Director, and an Osteoporosis Intervention Clinic. He sits on the Steering and Scientific Committee of the Ontario Best Practices Research Initiative, a collaborative attempt among stakeholders to describe and disseminate outcomes and best practices in the management of rheumatoid arthritis. He was an active Investigator and participant in the successful Canadian Rheumatology Research Consortium and served as Secretary-Treasurer, until its conclusion in 2014. He is a founding member of the Ontario Rheumatology Association and past president (2006-10). He is past President of the Canadian Rheumatology Association (2012-2014) and past Secretary-Treasurer (1996-2004). He is past Secretary-Treasurer of PANLAR and has served on the Steering Committee of CARE, a European-based group interested in the non-pharmacologic management of arthritis. He was a member of the Rehab Committee of the American College of Rheumatology 2003-2009 and served as Chair of the Committee till its dissolution.
He has been involved in improving care for those with arthritis through the above initiatives and his work with CRA and ORA in Best Practices identification and dissemination strategies and development of Models of Care frameworks (ORA) and improving the health of the community as a past member of the York Region District Health Council (DHC) and past chair of the amalgamated Simcoe-York DHC. Since the cancellation of TAP by Southlake in January 2021, he has become energized in the establishment of a not-for-profit organization (Centre of Arthritis Excellence - CArE) to develop a community-based MSK program, the first of its kind supported by the Ontario Ministry of Health, as a Portal of MSK Care, utilizing an Inter-Professional MoC, opened in September 2022.
Dr. Thorne has been recognized by his colleagues and peers with the ORA Distinguished Rheumatologist Award (2010), the CRA Distinguished Rheumatologist Award (2015), and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) and has been recognized as a Master of the American College of Rheumatology (2016) in Washington D.C. He was also awarded Master CRA in 2019.
May Y Choi, MD, MPH, FRCPC
General Board Member
Dr. May Choi is a graduate of the Cumming School of Medicine’s Adult Rheumatology training program. She’s also the Associate Director of MitogenDx and the Associate Director of Research at the University of Calgary’s Lupus Centre of Excellence. Dr. Choi completed her Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) degree at the University of Calgary in 2010, her Doctor of Medicine at the University of Alberta in 2014, and Internal Medicine training at the University of Calgary in 2017. In 2021, she completed her Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology Program at Harvard University and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Lupus Fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Karen Costenbader.
Dr. Mo Osman, MD PhD FRCPC
General Board Member
Dr. Baron is a native Montrealer where he now lives and works. He graduated from McGill University Medical School and did further training in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.
He worked briefly as a family physician in Newfoundland and British Columbia before doing his training in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology and then returned to the Jewish General Hospital, a McGill teaching hospital, in Montreal where he was the Chief of Rheumatology from 1984 to 2021. He is currently a Professor of Medicine at McGill University.
In the early 2000s he created the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group (CSRG). He had a long-standing interest in this rare disease and realized that to do good research in it, we would need to collect data from patients from across the country to have the large numbers needed for good studies. He received excellent support from many rheumatologists across Canada, and at one time or another, patients were being recruited from Halifax, Moncton, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Newmarket, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Calgary. Mexico City has also participated in the CSRG. By 2021, there were over 1600 patients in the database and 160 publications in scientific journals.
The CSRG has received international recognition, and Dr. Baron was asked to serve as president of the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium and has remained on its executive. This group represents essentially all of the world’s clinical scleroderma researchers.
His projects have also included data from other similar research groups such as the ones in Australia and the Netherlands. Dr. Baron has had a strong belief in collaboration in research, as increasing the numbers of patients in a study of a rare disease has fostered excellent projects that would be difficult to complete with only one group of patients.
His work has been supported financially by large grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and pharmaceutical companies but also by donations from both individual patients and patient organizations such as Scleroderma Canada, for which he is extremely grateful.
When not doctoring or researching, Dr. Baron has helped raise his family of two boys and now 5 grandchildren, found time to play the cello in a McGill medical faculty orchestra, learned to paint in oils and acrylics, and enjoys golf when the Canadian weather permits.
General Board Member
Dr. Osman is a Clinician Scientist and Rheumatologist with extra training in clinical immunology, focused on the diagnosis and management of connective tissue diseases (CTDs), particularly systemic sclerosis (SSc).
Dr. Osman completed a PhD in Immunology and clinical training in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology. He also completed a research fellowship in pulmonary arterial hypertension using preclinical animal models. He then completed extra training relevant to SSc at the University of Genoa (Italy) and the University Medical Centre in Groningen, the Netherlands, where he developed expertise in utilizing point-of-care tools for diagnosing patients with early SSc and for their prognostications. These include nailfold video capillaroscopy, high-frequency digital ultrasound, and laser plethysmography.
Dr. Osman is the director of the SSc and Microvascular clinics at the University of Alberta. His laboratory is focused on understanding the pathogenesis of SSc. Specifically, his team aims to better understand the effects of aberrant DNA damage responses and mutations on cell metabolism, tissue fibrosis, and downstream immune responses in SSc. They are also interested in developing a deeper understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome for patients with SSc and other rheumatic diseases. Through research, Dr. Osman hopes to develop novel therapies for patients with Systemic Sclerosis.
Dr. Murray Baron, MD
Board Chair
Director
Stephanie Densmore-Farnworth
National Coordinator and Board Secretary
For over 15+ years, I have dedicated my career to serving as a Clinical Medical Assistant in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. Since December 2021, I have also held the role of National Coordinator for the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group (CSRG), further expanding my contributions to clinical research and patient engagement. In this position, I play a key role in supporting the coordination of Continuing Medical Education (CME) initiatives, securing funding, and facilitating national research activities. I am also responsible for managing social media communications and organizing events like our AGMs in collaboration with CSRG and Dr. Larché. More recently, I have pursued additional professional development in not-for-profit education, with a focus on governance and communications. These experiences have strengthened my commitment to advancing scleroderma research and enhancing meaningful connections with patients, their caregivers, and our researchers.
