Zahi Touma, MD, PhD Board Member

Dr. Zahi Touma, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Clinician-Scientist with the University of Toronto and Scientist with the Schroeder Arthritis Institute and Krembil Research Institute. He is a Staff Rheumatologist with the University Health Network (UHN), where he is also the Director of the Lupus Program.

His research is focused on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and measurement science with a particular interest in the assessment of disease activity, patient reported outcomes and cognitive function. To this end, Dr. Touma established the NeuroLupus Program aiming to develop improved methods of identifying cognitive impairment in SLE, understanding its course over time and impact on health-related quality of life and productivity.

Dr. Touma holds several notable positions. He is a co-chair of the Criteria Subcommittee of the Quality-of-Care Committee of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) for the development of classification and response criteria for rheumatic diseases. He is also a co-chair of the SLE OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology) Working Group aiming to update the core domain set in SLE. At OMERACT, he is a Management Group member, Chair – Methods, Co-Chair-Technical Advisory Group. He sits on the Advisory Boards of Lupus Ontario and the Lupus Foundation of America. He is a member of the Lupus Accelerating Breakthrough Consortium (Lupus ABC) Executive Committee and Research Committee. He is leading the Lupus ABC PRO’s Working Group.

He is the coordinator/co-instructor of the measurement in clinical research course at the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation (IHPME), UofT. He has been appointed as the inaugural Dr. Murray B. Urowitz Chair in Lupus Research.

Dr. Touma has over 216 peer-reviewed publications in medical journals, edited a book, several book chapters and editorials.