Canadian Rheumatology Association Meeting, February 4-7, 2015. Introduction, Abstracts, Author Index

The 70th Annual Meeting of The Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA) was held at the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, February 4–7, 2015. The program consisted of presentations covering original research, symposia, awards, and lectures. Highlights of the meeting include 2015 Award Winners: Distinguished Rheumatologist Award: Carter Thorne; Distinguished Investigator Award: Hani El-Gabalawy; Teacher-Educator Award: Andrew E. Thompson; Young Investigator Award: Sindhu Johnson; Summer Studentship Mentor Award: Lori Albert; Innovation in Education Award: Henry Averns; Best Abstract for Basic Science Research by a Trainee: Sina Rusta-Sallehy; Best Abstract for Research by an Undergraduate Student: Tristan Kerr; Best Abstract for Research by a Rheumatology Resident: Claire Barber; Best Poster by a Medical Student: Dennis Wong; Best Poster by a Post-Graduate Resident: Zainab Alabdurubalnabi; CRA/ARF Best Epidemiology/Health Services Research Award: Evelyn Vinet; CRA/ARF Best Clinical Research Award: Glen Hazelwood; CRA/ARF Best Basic Science Research Award: Carolina Landolt-Marticorena; Ian Watson Award for Best Abstract for SLE Research by a Trainee: Ripneet Puar; Phil Rosen Award for Best Abstract for Clinical or Epidemiology Research by a Trainee: Liam O’Neil. Lectures and more: The 2015 Dunlop Dottridge Lecture: HLA-B27, the Microbiome, and the Pathogenesis of Spondyloarthritis, by James Rosenbaum; Preventing Rheumatoid Arthritis: What We’ll Need to Know Before We Start Navigating this Uncharted Territory, by Distinguished Investigator Awardee Hani El-Gabalawy; and the 2015 State of the Art Lectures: A Genomic Approach to Understanding Rheumatic Disease, by Dr. Virginia Pascual, and Modifiable Risk Factors in RA: You Can Lead a Horse to Water but …, by Michael Vallis. The Great Debate: Treat Pre-RA vs Not Treat Pre-RA. Arguing for: Volodko Bakowsky and Derek Haaland; Against: Hani El-Gabalawy and Rob McDougall. The contributions presented at the meeting are reflected in the abstracts, which we are pleased to publish in this issue.