People with the autoimmune disease scleroderma are vulnerable in COVID-19 due to frailty, lung involvement, and immunosuppression; they are representative of vulnerable groups in terms of COVID-19 mental health ramifications. No previous randomized controlled trials have tested mental health interventions during infectious disease outbreaks. We leveraged our existing ongoing cohort of over 2,000 people with […]

Many people with the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma rely on support groups to cope with their illness. For many scleroderma patients, however, support groups are not available in their area or cannot be sustained. To address this problem, the Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) and Scleroderma Canada developed a videoconference-based training program for scleroderma patient […]

Scleroderma or Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by progressive fibrosis of skin and multiple internal organs and prominent and often severe alterations in the microvasculature. Although SSc is the third most common systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease, there is currently no effective disease-modifying therapy for SSc. The overall objective of this project is […]