Key facts

• Appointed as a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and as a Senior Scientist at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute of the University Health Network (UHN), Toronto, Canada in 2024.  Director of Advanced Imaging Studies for Rheumatic Diseases Program, Co-director of the Psoriatic Arthritis Program and of the Clinical Trail Unit.

• Has worked as a university professor and head of rheumatology (Department of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology) of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and a liaison group leader at the German Rheumatology Research Centre Berlin, Germany in 2016-2024. 

• Dedicated to rheumatology as reflected by a high number of publications and citations, serving as an executive committee member of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS), steering committee member of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA), as well as congress committee member of EULAR and ACR. 

• Track record and expertise in the field of musculoskeletal imaging (X-rays, MRI, CT) in spondyloarthritis including psoriatic arthritis. Initiator and co-principal investigator of the Axial Involvement in Psoriatic Arthritis (AXIS) – an international multicentre joint project of ASAS and GRAPPA focusing on axial involvement in psoriatic arthritis. Central imaging assessor (X-rays and MRI) in the Classification of Axial SpondyloarthritiS Inception Cohort (CLASSIC) study. Co-principal investigator in the project on the development of the ASAS Recommendations for Requesting and Reporting Imaging in Patients with Suspected Axial Spondyloarthritis.  Initiator and co-principal investigator of the difficult-to-manage axial spondyloarthritis initiative of ASAS. 

• Initiator of pioneer projects on the use of deep learning (artificial intelligence / machine learning) for the recognition of pathological changes on X-rays and MRI of sacroiliac joints for the enhanced diagnosis and differential diagnosis of spondyloarthritis. 

• More than 20 years of clinical and research experience including multicenter interventional studies (as initiator, national and global principal investigator), multicenter and multinational epidemiological studies (as initiator and principal investigator), development and conduction of innovative training programs for medical students and rheumatology trainees as well as educational programs and projects for established rheumatologists.