1997: Creation of GLADEL
Towards the end of 1996, rheumatologists from Argentina and Mexico conceived the creation of the Latin American Group for the Study of Lupus (GLADEL - Grupo Latino Americano De Estudio del Lupus) and expanded this idea to other Latin American countries.
In July 1997, the first and founding meeting of GLADEL investigators took place in Mexico City where 15 participants (rheumatologists, epidemiologist, statistical and cyber experts) met for almost a week and developed the basis for what was to be the  inception cohort of GLADEL at the “Instituto Nacional De La Nutrición Salvador Zubiran” under the guidance of the late Donato Alarcón-Segovia.

Using ARTHROS™ Software, a novel program which included a database, the exchange of information via e-mail was established among the participating centers after they had received adequate training.

 

1997-2020
Over the ensuing years, GLADEL grew enormously. Perhaps a summary of the highlights could be:

• 35 seminal publications in peer reviewed journals describing many aspects of SLE in Latin America.
• Organization of the “10th International Congress on SLE” in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2013). The to date largest such congress and the first to be organized by a consortium and supported by the National Rheumatology Society (in this case Sociedad Argentina de Reumatología).
• Recognition of GLADEL as the PANLAR Study Group for Lupus as from 2002.
• Incorporation of GLADEL to SLICC via representation of Bernardo A. Pons-Estel (2017).
• Incorporation of GLADEL to DORIS via representation of Bernardo A. Pons-Estel (2018).

 

 

Founding meeting of GLADEL at the “Instituto Nacional De La Nutrición Salvador Zubiran”
DF, Mexico - July 1997.

From left to right: Luis J. Catoggio (Arg), José Fernando Molina-Restrepo (Col), Daniel Villalba (Arg), Mario H. Cardiel (Mex), Ignacio García De La Torre (Mex), Oscar González La Riviere, Donato Alarcón-Segovia (Mex), Leonor A. Barile-Fabris (Mex), Isaac Abadi (Ven), Juan Manuel Miranda-Limón (Mex), Mary-Carmen Amigo (Mex), Bernardo A. Pons-Estel (Arg), Loreto Massardo (Chi) and Carlos Abud Mendoza (Mex).

 

25 Years in our own words