Vasculitis Foundation Canada is pleased to host six top speakers who will speak to issues of interest for vasculitis patients and care givers alike. Our speakers will be:<\/p>\n
Dr. Peter Merkel,<\/strong> our guest speaker, is the Chief, Division of Rheumatology, Professor of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania, and is an internationally recognized leader in vasculitis care and research. He is well known to be an engaging speaker on all things vasculitis.<\/p>\n Dr. Christian Pagnoux<\/strong>, is a key member of the Toronto Vasculitis Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He is co-founder of CanVasc, Canada\u2019s clinical and vasculitis research network, and author, or co-author, of numerous vasculitis papers including the Canadian ANCA Associated Vasculitis Treatment Guidelines.<\/p>\n Dr. Katherine Siminovitch<\/strong> is a Senior Investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. We believe she was the first to collect patient, and family, DNA samples in Cambridge, Ontario in the Spring of 2001, and then embark on the genetic study of vasculitis. She continues to make numerous and meaningful contributions to the worlds understanding of vasculitis genetics and GPA and MPA in particular.<\/p>\n Dr. Felix Leung<\/strong> is a Clinical Biochemist at Toronto\u2019s Mount Sinai Hospital and will shine some light on common lab tests that vasculitis patients do on a regular basis including the often misunderstood and confusing ANCA tests.<\/p>\n Dr. Michael Mak<\/strong> is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and will help us understand many of the issues surrounding sleep, fatigue, insomnia and a host of other sleep related issues which are common experiences, and complaints, from vasculitis patients.<\/p>\n Dr. Lakshmi Kotra<\/strong> is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Toronto, Senior Scientist at Toronto\u2019s Krembril Research Institute and has a background in drug discovery and development. He will discuss what vasculitis patients need to know about medical marijuana and the emerging science behind medical cannabis, CBD (Cannabidiol), and how CBD modulates the little-known endocannabinoid system amongst other things!<\/p>\n The morning session has \u201cblocked\u201d almost one full hour for a Panel Q&A Session with doctors Merkel and Pagnoux for questions on the entire range of vasculitic diseases.<\/strong> In addition, each lecture includes time for specific lecture related questions.<\/p>\n The complete 2019 Lecture Program is available in PDF format here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Vasculitis Foundation Canada members attend for free. Non VFC members should pay online for a membership with a minimum $20.00 membership, or a dual Canadian\/U.S. membership for $55.00. Those VFC members who have attended past VFC events may register using their password from previous VFC events, or you can create a new one. <\/span><\/p>\n Register now by following this link:<\/strong><\/span>
\n2019 – VFC Annual Fall Lecture in Toronto on Sunday October 27th, 2019<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n