Nine Doctors – Nine Vasculitis Lectures, over Four Weekends, starting Sunday, October 2 through Sunday, November 13, 2022. Join us and our speakers from Toronto, Hamilton, Calgary, Baltimore, and Edmonton.

VFC has long recognized that patient education is a critical part of our mission, and with your participation we continue to help improve your care, we’ll find new ways to control vasculitis and of course, together we will find the cause, and the ultimately the cure!

This falls lectures have been organized with the assistance of Dr. Christian Pagnoux in Toronto.  VFC is pleased to host nine top speakers who will present topics of interest for vasculitis patients and care givers alike. Our speakers and the proposed program* will be as follows:

Sunday, October 2, 2021 at 1 and 2 PM ET

Dr. Simon Carette – Toronto, ON, Dr. Carette has spent a lifetime in the of world rheumatology and about the last 20 years he headed up the Toronto Vasculitis Clinic.  He is the author, or co-author of numerous papers and is co-founder of CanVasc (www.canvasc.org).  He retired this past summer and will share his reflections on the world of vasculitis from its very beginnings to the present day, and to offer his insight into what the future of vasculitis may look like.

Jon Stewart – Toronto ON, President Vasculitis Foundation Canada, The Prednisone and Avacopan/Tavneos Survey revealed. Close to 100 vasculitis patients completed the prednisone and Avacopan/Tavneos survey earlier this year and the results were very illuminating as it drove home the true impact that prednisone has on patients. Jon will unpack more of the survey result, as patients look forward to a time when there will be an alternative to prednisone. Jon will be joined by Kareena Nanda, Dr. Yacyshyn’s research assistant and medical student at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.  Kareena will share with you some of the objectives of a new vasculitis patient survey, the National Vasculitis Access Survey at: https://redcap.ualberta.ca/surveys/?s=9TXHWF89PPMHRNA7  This survey is intended for those being treated within the Canadian Healthcare System.

Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 1 PM ET

Dr. Susan Abbey – Toronto, ON is Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the Centre for Mental Health, University Health Network and has a keen interest in the emotional aspects of physical illness, and the physical and emotional impact of stress. And, most (all), vasculitis patients can relate to this! Getting a vasculitis diagnosis has very real physical impacts and presents challenges in coping with a chronic and potentially life-threatening disease. She has researched the development of coping tools like mindfulness and has worked with many patients, and families, including those with lupus, hypertension, multi-organ transplants, as well as cardiac and critical care issues.

Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 1, 2, and 3 PM ET

Dr. Christian Pagnoux, is a key member of the Toronto Vasculitis Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto ON. He is co-founder of CanVasc (www.canvasc.org), Canada’s clinical and vasculitis research network, and author, or co-author, of numerous vasculitis papers. He will discuss the current thinking on what we know about EGPA, TAK and GCA.

Dr. Michael Walsh – Hamilton, ON, is a nephrologist and medical director of the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton Glomerular Disease Clinic and was the principal investigator of the world’s largest clinical trial on GPA/MPA patients called PEXIVAS.  He will review and discuss this landmark study which investigated the role of plasma exchange and compared two prednisone protocols with the results indicating that the rapid taper reduced serious infections.  This is a hugely important study for all vasculitis patients and a not to be missed lecture!

Dr. Stepanie Garner – Calgary, AB, will speak to the issues of vasculitis and pregnancy, male and female drug induced infertility, and drug induced early onset menopause. Serious diseases call for serious treatments, and serious treatments can mean serious problems with infertility, pregnancy and menopause. However, better treatment options exist today than in the past!. She’ll also give us a quick COVID and vasculitis update! As we know, COVID changes and so do vaccines, other treatments and on and on, so it’s good to stay current!

Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 1, 2 and 3 PM ET

Dr. Duvuru Geetha – Baltimore, MD, is a nephrologist with expertise in glomerulonephritis, kidney transplant and of course vasculitis. Her research interests are ANCA associated vasculitis (AAV), IgA vasculitis and glomerular kidney diseases. She will speak about kidney disease in vasculitis and what it looks like up close, how to preserve kidney health, and transplant options should you end up there! Johns Hopkins is also a vasculitis and covid research center which tracks global COVID cases and even outcomes in vasculitis patients including those on Rituximab, CYC and immune suppressing agents used in vasculitis. She’ll give us a report on what “real world” data is saying about the risk COVID poses to vasculitis patients.

Dr. Jan Willem Cohen Tervaert – MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Director Division of Rheumatology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Dr. Tervaert will speak on what just about every vasculitis patient will experience, and that is fatigue, acutely or chronically, as well as sleeping problems and even anxiety. He will also speak about what every patient wants to prevent and that is how to prevent the recurrence (or relapses), of the disease after being treated for vasculitis

Get a vasculitis “tune up” and get your questions 🤔 answered from those who know the world of vasculitis.

The complete 2022 Lecture Program* in PDF is available here

Each lecture has allotted time for Q&A, VFC* reserves the right to make program changes as necessary.

To register for the VFC 2022 Fall Lectures follow this link and get registered!: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/vasculitis-foundation-canada/events/vasculitis-foundation-canada-2022-fall-lectures

As in the past, all VFC members, whose membership is current, attend for the VFC 2022 Fall Lectures for FREE!  For most of us, fall is the time to renew our $20.00 memberships, which you can do with a credit card at time of registration, then tick your choice of the Free lectures.  If you have questions on your membership status email them to: [email protected]  Remember, paid memberships help sustain your VFC, and if you like – you can even make a VFC donation when you register, and you will get an instant tax receipt.

If you are experiencing financial hardship we always grant free memberships and a promo code to attend the lectures for free, just email us at [email protected]  We want as many of you to attend this years lectures as possible as Patient Education Improves Patient Outcomes.