As Director of the Arthritis Program, Dr. Nizar Mahomed oversees a program with a global reputation for patient care excellence – the only one of its kind to integrate rheumatology, osteoporosis, orthopedic surgery, hand surgery and population health research under one umbrella and in a single location. A leading orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Mahomed is also intrinsically involved with musculoskeletal health efforts as Director of the Lower Extremity Arthritis Program.

Within the Arthritis Program, a key initiative is the creation of an interdisciplinary Osteoarthritis Centre. This centre promises to drive fundamental research and facilitate clinical breakthroughs toward a cure for osteoarthritis – the most common form of arthritis in the world.

Key accomplishments in the osteoarthritis program over the past year have included raising $1 million to establish a Minimal Access Ambulatory Spine Surgery research and education program. Highly regarded efforts by Dr. Raj Rampersaud in the MAASS arena have already shown that procedures which were once invasive and risky, involving long rehabilitation times, can now be performed on an outpatient basis.

The efforts of Dr. Dafna Gladman and Dr. Murray Urowitz, meanwhile, are vital to the treatment of inflammatory and auto-immune diseases such as lupus and psoriatic arthritis. Research into these disorders is largely based on clinical work, and such advances mean that more and more patients can lead near normal lives.