Ann Qualman:  Making an ever lasting difference

Two CAPA members died this past year: Jim Davies and Ann Qualman and they have left a legacy that will have an ever-lasting impact on people with arthritis. CAPA came to ‘be’ because Ann Qualman believed strongly that: “those affected by a decision should be involved in making that decision”.

Before CAPA was officially instituted in 2001 Ann was playing an instrumental role ensuring the patient voice was heard. It was Ann that engineered the first Arthritis Society funding for the Cochrane Collaboration. She believed in Dr. Peter Tugwell’s vision of a Canadian Cochrane MSK group that would need support even when there was lack of support in the medical community. In her incredible diplomatic way she convinced me to find money to support the Cochrane effort – it was clear that she was not going to leave my office until she heard the words ‘yes, let’s do it’. Ann then went on to ensure that arthritis patients had a big say in the lay language wording of the Cochrane reviews.

Ann’s efforts meant millions of research dollars to arthritis research, which was so sadly lacking for many years. When Dr. Tony Cruz set out to get an Arthritis Network from the Networks of Centres of Excellence it was Ann that attended countless meetings with government officials and Cabinet Ministers. She and Jim had the idea for TAS to commit $500,000 per year for highly skilled young investigators which they felt would have a two fold impact: first advising the NCE of outside financial commitment and secondly attracting young researchers to the arthritis field. CAN/NCE became the first disease specific NCE in Canada in 1998. The NCEs were regarded as the most prestigious grants any group could obtain. This effort put Arthritis on the health research landscape. It also meant 14 years of many millions of dollars for arthritis research. I don’t believe it would have happened without Ann’s knowledge of public health policy and the workings of government.

Then came the change of MRC (Medical Research Council of Canada) to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), which was modeled to some degree after the National Institutes of Health in the US. Think about it – Canada’s largest Medical research body didn’t even have an arthritis panel and the funding level for arthritis research was pathetically low. The chances of getting an Institute under CIHR were about .001. This time Ann provided a lot of strategic thinking and suggested the communities that needed to be brought together to create a critical mass and a research power base. Jim would organize the meetings with the politicians and Ann would drop everything in order to attend and make the case for an Arthritis Institute. On June 7, 2000 CIHR received Royal Assent. The Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis has meant millions of dollars to arthritis research and continues to do so.

All this time Ann talked about establishing a National Arthritis Patient Organization. Contacts were being made across the country and like everything else - Ann made it happen – in August 2001 CAPA was officially established although having operated in spirit for a few years. It was Ann’s idea to make it a ‘virtual’ organization. She also knew the value and importance of personal contact and relationship building and opened her home to CAPA members on many occasions.

CAPA became one of the most respected patient organizations in Canada. It didn’t take long for members to play leading roles in organizations and on government committees that had anything to do with arthritis from Cochrane, Best Medicines Coalition, Bone and Joint Decade, Research and Ethics committees. Ann attracted members to CAPA who clearly thought of the ‘greater good’ – we all learned a very important principle from Ann: “be tough on the issue and gentle on the people”.

Denis Morrice is a Canadian Ambassador to the Bone and Joint Decade. He is past president of The Arthritis Society.