Dr. Sindhu Johnson

2015 Young Investigator Award

Dr. Sindhu Johnson is an Assistant Professor and Clinician Scientist in the Departments of Medicine (Rheumatology) and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Having completed her residency training in Rheumatology and a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology, Sindhu embarked on a research career focused  in improving the diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of people with scleroderma (systemic sclerosis; SSc), with a specific interest in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Over the brief tenure of her academic career, she has developed a national if not international reputation for her contributions to the field of SSc and to the methodological approach to studying rare diseases. She has published 70 peer reviewed high impact original research papers that will change the way we think about, conduct and analyze studies in scleroderma and other rare diseases,

As noted above, she is developing an international reputation for her methodological expertise in clinical epidemiology and her novel research in scleroderma. As a member, and now Chair of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Classification Criteria Committee, Sindhu played a key role in the development of the new ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) SSc classification criteria. Many steps in this of state of the art expert methodology have been published or submitted as papers with Sindhu as a first or key author. In addition to this recognition from the ACR, she is on two rheumatology journal editorial boards. She has been an invited speaker on the topic of scleroderma both nationally and internationally. She is a member of our Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) grants review panel.

Sindhu mentors trainees with consistent high-level publications. Her focus, enthusiasm and persistence using expert methodology have enhanced understanding of rare diseases and principles of research techniques in epidemiology.