The Systemic Lupus Erythematosus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) is an international group of rheumatologists and immunologists with special interests in lupus who have been working together on lupus research since 1991. Our mission statement is:
Join us in our mission. We at SLICC, rely completely on the generosity and support of our donors and funders to continue our work.
SLICC developed the Damage Index – the only internationally accepted way of measuring the long-term effects of lupus and its treatment on the body. Without this index, it would be impossible to study those effects over time and compare them between different countries, geographies, and ethnic groups.
SLICC carried out the largest ever study of cancer in patients with lupus – this taught us that only some cancers are more likely to occur in patients with lupus and that the drugs commonly used to treat this disease do not significantly increase this risk of cancer.
But to continue our work, to answer the questions that patients with lupus are asking, we need to invest.
Since its inception over 25 years ago, SLICC has evolved into a dynamic and expanding research group helping to promote lupus research and collaboration between scientific investigators. Over its history, SLICC has contributed to the development of multiple standardized outcome measures to better characterize lupus activity and damage as well as its response to varying treatments.
Current Activities
SLICC is dedicated to generating new knowledge in the field of lupus, and translating these basic and clinical research discoveries into better health care practices and policies to help provide a healthier future for people diagnosed with lupus.
In 1998, the SLICC group established a longitudinal cohort of newly diagnosed patients with lupus (SLICC Inception Cohort) to better understand risk factors for atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome, and characterize nervous system involvement.
Our current research activities are focused on atherosclerosis, nervous system involvement, lupus nephritis, and damage accrual, and their economic impact using the inception cohort. New initiatives include development of a pregnancy cohort and working group on microparticles as well as revision of the SLICC/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index (SDI).
SLICC consists of a Board of Directors and 3 standing committees.
SLICC is an international research organization with 54 members who, collectively, represent 43 academic medical centres across 16 countries and 5 continents.
The Monash University Council has announced the appointment of Professor Eric Morand as a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor.
The title of Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor is the most prestigious honour conferred on serving professors at Monash University and is only awarded to professors of exceptional distinction who have made high-level and sustained contributions to their discipline, the University and the community.
Dr. Alexandra Legge has received the newly appointed and first-ever chairholder of the Quigley Family Endowed Chair in Rheumatology, a long-term research position supported by the Quigley family.
SLICC member, University Health Network in Toronto Researcher, and Clinician Dr. Dafna Gladman has been named an Officer of the Order of Canada. This prestigious distinction—one of the country’s highest civilian honours—recognizes her foundational contributions to the field of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and efforts to advance our understanding of this chronic disease. PsA is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes joint inflammation, pain, and stiffness, often alongside psoriasis.
Jane Knight Lowe Chair of Medicine in Rheumatology
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
1 Lakeside Drive, Apt. 1602
Oakland, CA, USA
94612
Graciela S. Alarcón, MD, MPH is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), her alma mater. She is a Master of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). She has received The Evelyn Hess Award and the ACR’s Distinguished Clinician Investigator Award for her contributions in recognizing the severity of lupus not only among US African descendants but also among Hispanics, particularly those with a large Amerindian ancestry. She is an Emeritus member of SLICC, an international advisor to GLADEL (Grupo Latinoamericano para el estudio de lupus), and a consultant for the Lupus Clinical Trials Consortium (LCTC). She is the author of over 500 scientific publications, author or editor of 48 books, including Idealismo y Ciencia en Los Andes (UPCH, 2014), Alberto Leonardo Barton. Las Bartonelas y la Medicina Peruana: Logros Sólidos, Reconocimientos Tardíos (UPCH, 2016) and The Bartonellas and Peruvian Medicine: The work of Alberto L. Barton (Rutgers University Press, 2018).
