Past Conferences

The CARC on-demand video presentations are now available on the conference platform! Please log back into Brella to watch the presentations again or the ones you may have missed under the ‘Schedule’ tab. Be sure put the filter on for ‘Past Content’ through the right-hand side panel of the tab. They will be available until November 1, 2022. Attendees who created their Brella account by Feb. 8 will have access to the video content. 

2022 Virtual Canadian Arthritis Research Conference, Feb. 7 & 8, 2022.

The third annual Canadian Arthritis Research conference, held on Feb. 7 & 8, 2022, brought together 180 researchers, clinicians and individuals living with arthritis from across the globe. The conference featured a range of presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities with experts, researchers, patient partners, and emerging leaders from the arthritis community. New for 2022, we invited open applications for keynote speakers and symposia through a crowdsourcing call. Attendees were provided two days of quality content, with a focus on three key areas: 1) patient-oriented research in arthritis, 2) precision medicine in arthritis and 3) sexual and reproductive health in arthritis.

In addition to keynote and symposia presentations, CARC 2022 provided a forum for investigators to share their research through the second annual Research Presentation Days, held on Jan. 25 and 31. The Research Presentation Days provided a public platform for presentations by researchers at all career stages including systematic reviews, all types of original research and evidence synthesis. This event allowed for brief conversations & questions about the research with the CARC Scientific Committee and other research presenters.

We want to give a special thanks to the CARC Scientific Committee, for all their contributions to the development of the program. This conference would not have come together without their leadership.

2021 Virtual Canadian Arthritis Research Conference, February 16 & 17, 2021.

The second annual Canadian Arthritis Research conference, held on February 16 & 17, 2021, was a first-of-its-kind virtual conference that brought together 180 researchers, clinicians and individuals living with arthritis from across the globe to explore perspectives, advance knowledge and enhance Canadian leadership in the world of arthritis and rheumatic diseases. The conference is co-presented by the Arthritis Society, Canadian Rheumatology Association, and CIHR-IMHA.

The theme of the two-day conference was “Research with Impact – Nurture Leaders”. CARC 2021 provided two days of quality content relating to both osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In addition to keynote and invited presentations, CARC 2021 provided a forum for investigators to share original research.

New in 2021 was an Original Research Presentation Day that was held on February 5, 2021. Researchers in all areas of RA and OA were invited to submit an abstract and give a ten-minute presentation over Zoom on their original research to an audience of researchers and people living with arthritis. The Original Research Day was an opportunity to foster collaboration and facilitate knowledge translation among the arthritis research community. Its success was noted by 75 attendees including researchers and senior professionals from both the RA and OA space.

We want to give a special thanks to the scientific planning committee, for all their contributions to the development of the program. This conference would not have come together without their leadership.

• Dr. Jackie Whittaker, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Research Scientist at Arthritis Research Canada, and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar (scientific committee co-chair, and co-chair of the session on rehabilitation, rheumatoid arthritis, and rehabilitation, osteoarthritis);

• Dr. Marie Hudson, Associate Director for Clinical Research, Lady Davis Institute Assistant Professor at McGill University (CRA membership representative and scientific committee co-chair, and co-chair of the session on medicine, rheumatoid arthritis, and medicine, osteoarthritis);

• Dr. Dawn Richards, volunteer Vice President of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance (Patient representative, scientific committee co-chair, and co-chair of the session on medicine, rheumatoid arthritis);

• Dr. Karim Khan, Professor, Department of Family Practice and School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, and Scientific Director, Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis;

• Dr. Tom Appleton, Hospital Chief of Rheumatology at SJHC London, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Physiology and Pharmacology, and Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University, and Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, and Children's Health Research Institute;

• Dr. Cheryl Carmelle Marie Barnabe, Associate Professor at the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, and Rheumatologist at Alberta Health Services.

2020 Canadian Arthritis Research Conference, February 25-26, 2020.

The theme of the first annual conference was “Taking Collaborative Action”. 90 researchers, clinicians and people living with arthritis from across Canada, the United States and the UK came together to explore perspectives, advance knowledge and enhance Canadian leadership in the world of arthritis and rheumatic diseases.  

The two day-conference saw three distinct sessions with national and international speakers presenting on the following themes:

1. Living Well: Easing Pain through Research
2. New Approaches to Inflammation and Tissue Repair
3. Getting Hooked on Big Data Science

Each session was anchored by a consumer presentation and was followed by presentations from two trainees, and basic and clinical scientists’ presentations. Through collaborative presentations and group conversations, the presenters collectively highlighted current research and approaches to pain, inflammation and tissue repair, and the integration of open-source data in clinical applications.  

The CARC Poster session had 28 researchers presenting on their current projects across Canada. The two top poster winners were Dr. Shabana Amanda Ali in the postdoctoral fellow category and Dale Fournier in the graduate student category. Congratulations to both Amanda and Dale!

We want to give a special thanks to the scientific planning committee, for all their contributions to the development of the program over the last eight months. This conference would not have come together without their leadership.  

• Dr. Hani El-Gabalawy: Chair of planning committee, Co-chair for Session 1
• Graeme Reed: Co-chair for Session 1
• Dr. Jeff Dixon: Co-chair for Session 2
• Dr. Heinrike Schmeling: Co-chair for Session 2
• Dr. Shabana Amanda Ali: Co-chair for Session 2
• Dr. Proton Rahman: Co-chair for Session 3
• Dr. Diane Lacaille: Co-chair for Session 3
• Dr. Marie Hudson: Committee Member