2012 Blue Ribbon Panel Members
The ACR gratefully acknowledges the work of the members of the 2012 Blue Ribbon Panel on Academic Rheumatology, listed below:
- David A. Fox, MD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- V. Michael Holers, MD, University of Colorado, Denver
- Abby G. Abelson, MD, The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
- Hermine I. Brunner, MD, MBA, MSc, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Ohio
- Gary Bryant , MD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul
- Lindsey A. Criswell, MD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco
- Leslie J. Crofford, MD, University of Kentucky, Lexington
- Bruce N. Cronstein, MD, New York University, N.Y.
- Mary K. Crow, MD, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, N.Y.
- Ellen Gravallese, MD, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester
- William F. Harvey, MD, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Mass.
- Elizabeth W. Karlson, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass.
- William J. Koopman, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Eric L. Matteson, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
- William Robinson, MD, PhD, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.
- Daniel E. Schaffer, PA-C, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
- E. William St.Clair, MD, Duke University, Durham, N.C.
- Maria E. Suarez-Almazor, MD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
The challenges and the opportunities that confront academic rheumatology today are multidimensional and complex. Academic units strive to nurture and balance their multiple missions of research, clinical care, and teaching in a rapidly changing environment in which the economic viability of rheumatology is far from secure. Academic rheumatology is the essential pipeline for the development of rheumatology practitioners in the community, and issues that affect the vitality of academic rheumatology have broad implications for the viability of the greater profession. The availability of a sufficiently robust academic workforce for the future, especially at the leadership level, is uncertain. At the same time, the potential for transformative basic discoveries and clinical advances that lead to better prevention, treatment, and even cure of adult and pediatric rheumatic diseases has never been greater.
Why Did the ACR Convene This Panel?
Recognizing the challenges and opportunities described above, the ACR convened a review of the state of academic rheumatology in the U.S. and charged a Blue Ribbon Panel—the first in 15 years—with making recommendations to address the key issues. The ACR has grown enormously since the last Blue Ribbon Panel (convened in 1997 and chaired by Eng Tan, MD), and, in many respects, the first panel’s recommendations pointed the way to this growth.
