Dr. Nigil Haroon

MD, PhD, DM, FRCPC, FRCP, MBA

Dr. Nigil Haroon, MD, PhD, is the Chair of Translational Research and Drug Discovery in Inflammatory Arthritis at University of Toronto and University Health Network, Toronto., He serves as the Head of the Division of Rheumatology at the University Health Network and Sinai Health, Professor of medicine and rheumatology at the University of Toronto and Senior Scientist at the Krembil Research Institute and the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, a state of the art research facility in Toronto. Dr. Haroon is the Past President of the Canadian Rheumatology Association and is the Vice-Chair of the Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network (SPARTAN).

Dr. Haroon is an internationally renowned clinician scientist in the field of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) / Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). He is well published in this area and has been an invited speaker in several international meetings. Dr. Haroon also serves on the board of SPARTAN as well as on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Boards of the Spondylitis Association of America and the Canadian Spondyltis Association. Dr. Haroon has won several awards including the Vanier Scholarship and the Jane Bruckel Award of the Spondylitis Association of America.

Dr. Haroon has a well-established translational research program at the University Health Network, Toronto and is known for his work in functional genomics of AS. He has published paradigm-shifting studies in AS including the first study to show that spinal progression in AS could be reduced with the use of TNF inhibitors. He published one of the largest population based studies in AS including a total of 100,000 subjects/controls and identified a significant increased risk of dying from heart attacks and strokes in AS patients. He identified the role for MIF, an innate immune molecule that can drive both inflammation and bone formation in AS patients.