How does your donation help improve the lives of people living with lupus?
100% of the funds we raise are being directed towards the $65,000 Lupus Ontario Geoff Carr Fellowship. This Fellowship is offered annually to a qualified doctor, to work under supervision at an accredited Lupus Clinic in Ontario. The Fellowship also provides the recipient opportunities to conduct research in either adult or paediatric lupus, to gain additional in-depth knowledge of diagnosis and treatment options for the disease, and to provide patient care and education.
Dr. Stephanie Wong, Hospital for Sick Children, is the 2022/2023 Geoff Carr Fellow. The following are her words:
The Geoff Carr Fellowship award through Lupus Ontario has given me the opportunity to work within the largest paediatric lupus clinic in North America. The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) is a world renown institution, staffed by international lupus experts including Drs. Earl Silverman, Deborah Levy, Linda Hiraki and Andrea Knight. These mentors have taught me invaluable lessons in clinical care, research and personal growth. My research project includes assessment of therapeutic drug monitoring of hydroxychloroquine (a medication that most, if not all lupus patients are on) in hopes of providing individualized dosing regimens by optimizing efficacy and prevention of long-term toxicity. This is a steppingstone towards personalized medicine in paediatric lupus patients. This fellowship has also allowed me to further my passion for transition of care from paediatric to adult health care systems. I attend dedicated young adult lupus clinics at both Mount Sinai and Toronto Western Hospitals alongside Dr. Amanda Steiman and Dr. Zahi Touma, who are both past awardees of this fellowship. Adolescents with lupus are vulnerable to disease flares and increased disease activity during and following transfer of care. Having the chance to provide continuity of care for these patients during this transition has helped to teach me strategies of engaging young adults in their health, identify gaps in care and provide adequate support for these patients during this critical time. This award has been vitally important in rounding out my Rheumatology training with a future career as a clinician teacher with a special focus in paediatric lupus.
How you can help:
A secure financial on-line donation can be made directly through this fundraising page.
Your past help:
Over the past 17 years, family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues have generously contributed over $260,000.
What is lupus?
Lupus is a serious, complex autoimmune disease that can target any tissue or organ of the body, including skin, muscles, joints, blood and blood vessels, lungs, heart, kidneys and the brain. Lupus is a chronic disease caused by inflammation in one or more parts of the body. The majority of people diagnosed with lupus are women in the prime years of their lives – between the ages of 15 and 45 years. Especially impacted are communities which include women of African, Caribbean, Asian and Aboriginal descent.
In an autoimmune disorder like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign substances and the body’s own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against the body. These antibodies — called “auto-antibodies” (auto means ‘self’) — cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.
No one knows for sure what causes Lupus. Lupus is not contagious and is not related to AIDS or cancer. It belongs in the family of diseases which include rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, and scleroderma.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for lupus and treatment can only hope to make the patient comfortable at best. It is for this reason early detection is so important.
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