Mission Statement
The Autoimmune Biomedical Collaborative (ABC) strives to forge connections across research, clinical practice, and patient needs to identify commonalities across autoimmune diseases, develop potential therapeutic strategies and facilitate innovative solutions to global autoimmune disease health challenges.
Goals
To develop new collaborative research projects specifically aimed at identifying mechanisms of disease and testing novel and emerging therapeutic approaches in preclinical animal models.
Bring together biomedical researchers and clinicians at UBC and partners with expertise in lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, scleroderma, Sjogren’s syndrome, vasculitis, MS, and T1D.
To increase cross-disciplinary collaboration, improve access to valuable clinical resources, and facilitate knowledge exchange across knowledge users built around five research themes that connect bench-side to bedside and back.
To reveal commonalities across autoimmune diseases and develop a cross-targeted understanding and therapy development.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Cluster Leadership and Team Composition
- Team composition – diverse faculty and clinicians across career stages, genders, ethnicities, and professional backgrounds.
- ABC co-leads are EDI champions in their research groups and communities.
- Each member is supported by diverse trainees that will participate in cluster activities.
- Foster a culture of inclusivity, empathy, transparency, and meaningful participation.
Cluster Activities
- Partner with UBC EDI groups, including M&I, LSI, Equity & Inclusion Office, and Faculty of Medicine REDI Office.
- Develop mentorship guidelines to support trainees and promoting active participation those from historically marginalized communities.
- Consult UBC’s Indigenous Research Support Initiative on best practices for engagement, data management, and ethics.
Inclusion of EDI in Research
- Awareness of the disproportionate impacts of autoimmunity on select groups.
- Ensure that collection and analysis of clinical cohorts reflect patient populations and present disaggregated data to assess differences between demographic groups.
- Acknowledge underrepresentation of Indigenous communities in clinical research.
- Build a long-term Indigenous engagement plan.
- Engage with historically marginalized communities in Canada to share discoveries, offer training, and listen to impacts.
Systemic Change
- Commitment to advocacy and allyship.
- Call out systemic barriers at leadership tables.
- Work to reduce and remove barriers that interfere with the ability of historically marginalized folks to thrive in science.