by Marie-Eve Carrier | Oct 25, 2016


SPIN is constantly growing and now has 36 recruiting sites located in Canada, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. The number of active participants enrolled in SPIN has reached 1289. The continued success of this project would not be possible without your participation!

Congratulations to SPIN trainee Ms. Shadi Gholizadeh, ​PhD student in Clinical Psychology at San Diego State University, ​who has recently been awarded the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals' Graduate Student Award for her exceptional work on body image in scleroderma patients​. This award is given annually to recognize outstanding student research and clinical practice in the field of rheumatology. Shadi is supervised by Vanessa Malcarne and plays a central role in the SPIN Team.

For more information and to read a brief interview with Shadi please visit this link: (scroll down to 9th awardee)​

http://www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/2016-arhp-award-winners-discuss-contributions-rheumatology/

The Scleroderma Foundation National Patient Education Conference was held earlier this year, from July 29th-31st, in New Orleans, USA. SPIN members Marie-Eve Carrier, Lisa Jewett, and Dr. Linda Kwakkenbos each presented an academic poster. Topics addressed by these poster presentations included the development of online interventions, appearance concerns, and quality of life. Dr. Brett Thombs, Director of SPIN, gave a presentation on healthcare decision-making and Lisa Jewett presented her research on body image.

The Scleroderma Canada 17th Annual National Conference was held from September 16th-18th in Montréal, Canada. Academic poster presentations were given by SPIN members Dr. Karima Becetti, Stephanie Gumuchian, Lisa Jewett, Vanessa Delisle, and Mia Pepin, on a range of topics including emotional distress, mental health, support groups, and physical and occupational therapy. Mia Pepin and Lisa Jewett each received an award for best poster presentation. Additionally, Dr. Linda Kwakkenbos gave a presentation on managing fatigue and Lisa Jewett presented on body image distress. Dr. Brett Thombs presented on health care management and decision-making.

Members of the SPIN research team will also be giving presentations at the upcoming American College of Rheumatology annual meeting that is being held from November 11th to November 16th, 2016 in Washington, DC. Dr. Karima Becetti will be presenting a poster on the utilization of physical and occupational therapy and another on mental health care. Marleine Azar will be presenting a poster on exercise habits.

We hope to see some of you there, and thank all patients for their ongoing participation and SPIN members for their continued contributions to the project!