Jean Kawasoe is a Research Technician at the University of Calgary, specializing in molecular biology and cell culture. They hold a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Waterloo (1990-1995) and possess expertise in essential laboratory techniques for biological research.

Haiyan Hou is a Clinical Laboratory Manager at the University of Calgary’s Department of Medicine. With extensive experience in clinical laboratory operations, Haiyan plays a key role in managing laboratory practices to support medical research and patient care.

Katherine is a graduate of the University of Calgary's Bachelor of Health sciences, majoring in Bioinformatics. She enjoys analyzing data, from traditional statistical methods to exploring how machine learning can be applied to more challenging problems.

Jen is a lab volunteer who assists the lab technician with work related to conducting an inventory of the biobank and data entry. She also helps with sorting through samples, aliquoting them and updating the biobank software.

Connie Mantei has been working at U of C for 16 years supporting faculty members, adapting to their varying needs and learning new programs and techniques along the way.  She has become proficient in many areas, both clinical and research oriented, and continues to grow and expand in her role in order to meet the individual needs of her faculty members.

Sasha is a computer science researcher exploring how generative technologies can support creative workflows. Throughout his Master’s degree at the University of Calgary, Sasha developed techniques for guiding evolving AI generated designs and published research on immersive VR data visualizations.

Wrechelle is a research coordinator on Dr. Choi’s team. She brings expertise in grant submission, ethics, and registries.

Yang is a new lab coordinator that brings a wealth of wet lab experience to the team. We are excited for her to join us to start applying her skills to study autoimmune diseases.

Arwen is a new nurse coordinator who helps recruit patients in the rheumatology clinic for biomarker-related studies.

Dr. Costenbader is a rheumatologist and epidemiologist working at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston Massachusetts. Her work has investigated risk factors and disparities in the development of Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and in the long-term outcomes of those affected.

Dr. Susan Elliott is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management and University Research Chair in Medical Geography at the University of Waterloo. As a health geographer with an active research career, her current research activities focus on the intersection of health and environment with an emphasis on bridging science and policy. 

Leanne joined Lupus Canada in 2008 and was appointed Executive Director in 2016. In this role Leanne leads the vision and initiatives of Lupus Canada while overseeing operations, revenue development, advocacy and research efforts and industry partnerships in Canada. Leanne is committed to increasing public awareness of lupus and ensuring lupus patients across Canada have access to care.

Christine Sperling is a patient partner who is working in collaboration with researchers to provide a patient perspective on SLE (Lupus) research.  She is also a member of the CanVECTOR  Patient Partner Council.  Having lived with Lupus for over 35 years, Christine hopes that by sharing her lived experience with researchers that there will be continued improvement in disease management, treatments and ultimately a higher quality of life for lupus patients. 

Sasha is a rheumatologist, a James McGill professor and a senior scientist in the Centre for Health Outcomes Research and Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the Research Institute of the MUHC. Dr. Bernatsky is the CAN-AIM Nominated Principal Investigator.

Dr. Marie Hudson is a rheumatologist, epidemiologist, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University. She is a physician-scientist and member of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies at the Jewish General Hospital. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and is funded as a New Investigator by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). 

Mina Aminghafari is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary, specializing in statistical and machine learning, functional data analysis, time series, and non-parametric statistics. Her research focuses on developing innovative methods in unsupervised learning and analyzing complex data patterns.

Dr. Leclair research focuses on autoimmune inflammatory myopathies. She is one of the founding members of the Canadian Inflammatory Myopathy Study (CIMS), a multi-center registry following over 300 individuals living with inflammatory myopathies. Dr Leclair’s work helped to characterize novel clinical phenotypes and generate knowledge to help improve clinical outcomes in inflammatory myopathies with projects covering a wide range of topics namely risk factors, drug effectiveness, morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. She is currently developing a research program aiming to improve monitoring approaches in inflammatory myopathies using innovative and patient-centred approaches.

Dr. Dianne Mosher is the past Division Head of the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Calgary and a rheumatologist with over 30 years of experience treating patients and conducting research.  She is currently the Associate Dean of the Indigenous, Local and Global Health Office at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary.  She is past president of the Canadian Rheumatology Association and co-author of “Living Well with Arthritis.”  In February 2013, she received the Governor General of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contributions to arthritis care in Canada.

Dr. Moran Toro is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Community Rheumatologist. She has a special interest in inflammatory arthritis, rheumatic diseases in pregnancy, and young adults with rheumatic diseases. Her professional interests include Medical Education, and she is involved in Undergraduate Medical Education as the Chair of Rheumatology for Medical School Teaching. She enjoys working with the Fellows of Rheumatology in Training.

Eugene Krustev completed a myositis fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Eugene completed his Bachelor's and Master of Science degrees at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and his medical training at Memorial University of Newfoundland, during which he investigated the role of the endocannabinoid system in animal models of inflammatory arthritis and developed 3D-printed simulation models for teaching arthrocentesis skills. He subsequently completed his internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship at the University of Calgary, where he expanded into investigating novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in systemic lupus erythematosus and inflammatory myopathies. In his free time, Eugene enjoys skiing during the winter and spends his summer weekends hiking and fly fishing.

Dr. Ann Clarke is a Professor in the Division of Rheumatology in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta. She established the University of Calgary Lupus Clinic in 2013 and is its current Director. Her research focuses on the epidemiology, economics, and outcomes of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Emily Shantz is postdoctoral fellow interested in the intersections between human health and environment. Her research interests include chronic and infectious diseases, social determinants of health, health inequities, and knowledge translation. Emily’s doctoral work with the SLE-CALCULATOR project focused on understanding the social factors associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease in people living with SLE, as well as patient engagement, knowledge mobilization, and implementing an integrated knowledge translation approach in which knowledge users are included as equal partners throughout the research process.

Jenny Wei is a dedicated biomedical engineering professional and Co-Managing Director at UT BIOME. She has led projects focused on healthcare innovations, including designing a urinary surgery irrigation device, developing a wearable for abnormal breathing detection, and conducting computational analysis of muscle disease biomarkers. Jenny holds a MASc. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto, where she also coordinated the IgNITE Medical Case Competition.

Mohammadjavad Sajadi is a statistician focused on integrating advanced statistical models into real-world applications, particularly in Data-Driven Health Tech. His current project, ANA, aims to enhance healthcare analytics through innovative modeling. Javad earned his bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from Sharif University of Technology and is now pursuing a master’s in statistics at the University of Calgary, where he continues to advance his expertise in data science and statistical inference.

Francesca Cardwell completed a Doctor of Philosophy under Dr. Susan Elliott’s supervision in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo (2018). Francesca is a health geographer, interested primarily in the relationships between the environment and health.

Nathan is an honours undergraduate student in the Cumming School of Medicine's Bachelor of Health Science program, majoring in biomedical sciences. His current research is focused on biomarker discovery and validation for the prediction and prevention of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

Farbod is a bioinformatician working on integrating artificial intelligence into the medical field. His current projects include the ANA reader, SPIN, and SLE calculator. He graduated from the bioinformatics undergraduate program at the University of Calgary in 2024.

Grace is an undergraduate Honours Biochemistry Co-op and Research Specialization student in the faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. Her current research is focused on biomarker discovery and autoimmune biobanking.

Dr. Miriam Li is an internal medicine resident at the University of Calgary with a keen interest in rheumatology and autoimmune disorders. She earned her Doctor of Medicine (MD) from University of Alberta. Her prior research interests involved various quality improvement projects centered around healthcare delivery. We welcome her into our lab as she tackles projects related to urinary biomarker discovery and non-invasive biomarker testing.

Victoria Dungey is an undergraduate student in the Maine College of Engineering and Computing, majoring in biomedical engineering. Her current research is focussed on assessing saliva as a diagnostic matrix for autoantibodies and the prediction of SLE.

Jordan is an undergraduate student at the University of Calgary in the Bachelor of Science program, majoring in biochemistry. Her current research focuses on autoimmune biobanking and ANA validation.

Sajida completed her Bachelor of Health Sciences (Hons.) in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Bioinformatics at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine. She is now pursuing her Master’s degree, where her research focuses on identifying and validating novel urinary biomarkers for the detection and monitoring of lupus nephritis.