Alison Clifford
Contact
Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Medicine Dept
- alison5@ualberta.ca
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Vasculitis giant cell arteritis aortitis PET/CT imaging
About
Personal Statement:
Autoimmune diseases can happen at any age and are a significant cause of ill health and decreased quality of life. My interest is in vasculitis, or inflammation of the blood vessel walls. Vasculitis results in reduced blood flow to the body’s organs, potentially leading to serious tissue damage. I study the natural history and immune responses of large vessel vasculitis, called giant cell arteritis (GCA), with the aim of translating findings into clinical application.
Dr. Alison Clifford completed medical school and residencies in internal medicine and rheumatology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, then did a combined clinical and research vasculitis fellowship at the Center for Vasculitis Care and Research at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. She was recruited to the University of Alberta in 2015 and has a research and clinical focus on vasculitis.
Leadership and Collaborations:
Dr. Clifford is an associate member of CanVasc, the Canadian network for vasculitis investigators.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Clifford treats patients at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic’s Alberta Rheumatology unit.
Research
Dr. Clifford is interested in vasculitis, particularly giant cell arteritis (GCA), a form of vasculitis affecting the large vessels. This can have serious complications as blindness, stroke or aortic dissection. She assesses the potential of biologic therapies, imaging and genomics tools to better understand and diagnose vascular conditions. She is lead author and co-author on several research papers published in such journals as Arthritis & Rheumatology, Current Opinion in Rheumatology and Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery.
Teaching
Dr. Clifford is a lecturer in the Department of Medicine.
Featured Publications
Characterization of patients with normal inflammatory markers in giant cell arteritis
20th International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshop. 2022 April;
COVID-19 Vaccination Perceptions in Vasculitis patients
20th International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshop. 2022 April;
TNF-a Inhibitors in the Treatment of Neurobehçet Syndrome: A Case Series and Literature Review
20th International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshop. 2022 April;
Characterization of patients with normal inflammatory markers in giant cell arteritis
Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2022. 2022 February;
Frequency and patterns of lipid and glucose measurements patients with giant cell arteritis
Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2022. 2022 February;
TNF-a Inhibitors in the Treatment of Neurobehçet Syndrome: A Case Series and Literature review
Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2022. 2022 February;
Johnson A., Emery D., Clifford A.
Diagnostics. 2021 October; 11 (11) 10.3390/diagnostics11111997
Clifford A.H., Cohen Tervaert J.W.
Atherosclerosis. 2021 May; 325 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2021.03.032
Chronic fatigue syndrome, cognitive failure and anxiety in ANCA-associated vasculitis.
Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2021. 2021 February;
Tariq S., Clifford A.H.
Current opinion in rheumatology. 2021 January; 33 (1):15-23 10.1097/BOR.0000000000000758