2024 Distinguished Investigator
Ann CLARKE, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Professor of Medicine
Division of Rheumatology
Director, University of Calgary Lupus / APS Centre of Excellence
The Arthritis Society Chair in Rheumatic Diseases
Cumming School of Medicine
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Dr. Ann Clarke is a Professor in the Division of Rheumatology in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary and holds The Arthritis Society Chair in Rheumatic Diseases. Dr. Clarke obtained her medical degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland and completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology and Allergy at McGill University. She then completed a Masters in Health Services Research and a three-year fellowship at Stanford University. Between 1997 and 2013, she was the Co-Director of the McGill University Health Centre Lupus Clinic. In 2013, she founded and is the Director of the University of Calgary Lupus / Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) Centre of Excellence, a multidisciplinary care environment offering patient-centred treatment strategies designed to control disease activity while minimizing side effects. The Centre is dedicated to advancing understanding of the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and translating these discoveries into practices and policies that provide a healthier future for those with lupus.
She is an established investigator in the epidemiology and outcomes of SLE and has conducted pivotal research on the risk and determinants of malignancy in SLE, the economic burden of SLE, and patients’ lived experiences. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC), an international group of lupus clinician scientists. SLICC has developed disease classification criteria and standardized measures for lupus disease activity and damage that are foundational to lupus research and has assembled an international inception cohort that has revolutionized concepts of neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular, renal, and economic outcomes in SLE. Dr. Clarke is a member of LuCIN (the North American Lupus Clinical Investigators Network), offering patients faster access to more effective and safe therapies through participation in clinical trials. She is also a member of the Antiphospholipid Syndrome Alliance for Clinical Trials and International Networking (APS ACTION), an international research consortium committed to furthering understanding and management of APS.
Dr. Clarke has received support from Canadian and American peer-reviewed granting agencies and charitable organizations and has published over 450 manuscripts. She is very engaged in training the next generation of lupus clinicians and investigators and advocating for equitable publicly-funded access to novel and emerging lupus therapies. Her achievements in lupus research and mentorship have been recognized with the ACR Edmond L Dubois memorial award, the Chela Alarcon lectureship, the Jeffrey Shiroky memorial award, and the RCPSC mentorship award.