Dr. Fortin is working to better understand the bio-psycho-social impact of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARD), such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic sclerosis, inflammatory myositis, and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). He is particularly interested in the development of interventions for the treatment of SLE, RA, and APS.

His methodological interests are the development and validation of diagnostic and prognostic tests, new treatments, and new ways to measure the impact of these treatments on the health status of the patient, and on the levels of activity or harm of the disease within SARDs. His other methodological interests include developing healthy lifestyle habits for people with SARD, and measuring the impact of patient knowledge.