TR: What was it about your first experiences with the ARP that attracted you?
Dr. Goode: Not only in clinical practice, but also in research, I’ve always been a member of, and an advocate for, interdisciplinary teams, and that’s what I saw as the ARP focus: bringing together a lot of different disciplines to address common goals, whether it be helping patients in the clinic and addressing research questions. It is also what I like about the ACR. There is a lot of power in bringing together different-minded folks, especially when we are dealing with the complexities of rheumatologic conditions.
TR: You have been volunteering for the ARP since 2013 on committees dealing with such topics as research, clinical practice, ethics and advocacy, and have also volunteered for the ACR, currently serving as an invited guest on its Executive Committee and its Board of Directors. Which of your volunteer activities stands out to you?
Dr. Goode: This past year, an experience that really resonated with me was serving on the Membership and Awards Committee. The president elect of the ACR and of the ARP are co-chairs on that committee, so I was co-chair with Carol Langford, MD, MHS [see p. 10]. On this committee, we organized and selected the honors of distinction and awardees for the 2024 slate and, in so doing, we and the other members of the committee conducted in-person deliberations, which was an excellent opportunity to learn more about our membership and the many different ways to approach rheumatologic conditions through education, practice and research.
What is also important about the Membership and Awards Committee is that it is the only committee that is jointly chaired by members of the ACR and ARP. That allowed Carol and I to get to know one another really well, which is great because we’ll be working together as concurrent presidents of the two organizations. Hopefully, we’ll see more committees that follow this ARP/ ACR joint co-chair model in the future.
TR: What initiatives do you hope to stress in the coming year as ARP president?
Dr. Goode: As we go forward with our strategic planning process for ARP, we will continue to learn about our interdisciplinary community and how we can work together to advance rheumatology. That is a key part of one of the areas deemed particularly significant by the ARP and ACR, which is the educational resources we provide to our members. Those resources are important in advancing different practice areas for our patients. It takes a lot of work to both keep those educational resources updated and create new resources that are relevant to nurse practitioners (NPs), physician associates/physician assistants (PAs), advanced practice providers (APPs), and all of our members, so they can keep up with the demands they face today, even in light of current and projected workforce shortages.
