About Us

Who We Are

RheumExam Atlas has been a long-running project of Dr. Lori Albert, a rheumatologist and Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. It was originally produced in 2010 as the Rheumatology Bedside Teaching Atlas, with the help of Dr. Kelsey Mills, at that time a summer student of the Canadian Rheumatology Association, and Ms. Nancy Roper, a volunteer in the “Patient Partners in Arthritis” teaching program. The website was originally developed in collaboration with Ms. Sonia Seto, a student of the Masters of Science program in Biomedical Communications at University of Toronto. In 2017, RheumExam Atlas was updated by Tiffanie Tse, a medical student at the University of Toronto.

What is RheumExam Atlas?

Recognition of rheumatic diseases relies heavily on observation of specific and sometimes diagnostic physical findings. This atlas is designed to help clinicians and trainees recognize many of these important findings. The atlas has been organized according to the format “GALS” for Gait, Arms, Legs and Spine to help correlate findings to the GALS screening examination. The GALS exam¹ is outlined in the Clinical Evaluation section. To learn more about how to use RheumExam Atlas, click here.

How to contribute pictures to RheumExam Atlas

To contribute images (with credit) to RheumExam Atlas, please email us at rheumexamatlas@gmail.com.

1. Doherty M, Dacre J, Dieppe P, et al. The ‘GALS’ locomotor screen. Ann Rheum Dis. 1992; 51(10): 1165-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ard.51.10.1165.Medline:1444632