ACR Gold Medal Winner, Dr. Michael Weinblatt provides brief remarks during the awards ceremony in San Diego.
Oscar & Associates
Education is a vital component of what the ACR provides to rheumatology professionals around the world, and the ACR’s commitment to continually expand options to access the latest science and medical education is critical to all involved in the specialty. This dedication is reflected in the ACR’s new mission, vision and brand promise, all of which were developed in tandem with the new five-year strategic plan. Our promise to you—a rheumatology professional—is that we are here for you so you can be there for your patients. ACR Beyond is a demonstration of that promise.
ACR Beyond is the ACR’s new education platform that allows us to bring cutting-edge education to you anytime, anywhere.
Because the ACR’s reach and membership are international, ACR Beyond was developed to be a global platform. It is available to anyone with an Internet connection. With the launch of ACR Beyond at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, we have seen colleagues join from 70 countries, including Afghanistan, Argentina, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Saint Lucia and Slovenia, to name a few. Users can view past ACR meeting sessions or virtually participate in live streaming of select meetings. The goal is to provide learning without boundaries.
The ACR took the first step this year in San Diego as attendees worldwide joined the ACR Review Course in real-time via live stream. Using the platform’s networking component gave participants the ability to chat, ask questions and share reviews, making connections among attendees possible even when remotely accessing an event. Although they were not physically in San Diego, they were able to participate virtually and chat with others viewing the live stream.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addresses attendees in San Diego during the keynote presentation.
Oscar & Associates
The ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting provides an unparalleled opportunity to meet and network with colleagues. However, time is limited, and it’s exciting to have the opportunity to join our colleagues for these premier sessions even if we cannot be there in person. This is a tremendous step forward in making learning more accessible.
Two services are available through ACR Beyond. The first, ACR Beyond Streaming, is an annual subscription service providing access to hundreds of hours of top-rated educational content from leading experts. New content from past and current ACR meetings, such as the Winter Rheumatology Symposium, the State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium and the Annual Meeting, is added monthly to keep you engaged and empower you to treat your patients with the highest quality care. New features will be added to the ACR Beyond platform in the coming months to enhance your educational experience throughout the year. And the ACR’s education team is offering a seven-day free trial to get you started.
The second service, ACR Beyond Live, allows viewers to stream a live event in real time—as it happens. Only select meetings are available in this format today, but we expect the popularity to grow quickly. If you are debating whether attending a meeting in person outweighs the travel costs and time away from the office, you may want to consider attending an ACR Beyond Live event instead. This year’s Winter Rheumatology Symposium will be available for live streaming.
ACR Beyond Live
The ACR will be live streaming three days from the 2018 Winter Rheumatology Symposium from Sunday, Jan. 21, through Tuesday, Jan. 23. You can join for all three days or choose a day or two. The list of sessions that will be live streamed is impressive:
Sunday, Jan. 21
- Controversies in Interventional Spine Care
- Zacharia Isaac, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
- Singing Those Neutrophil Granule Autoimmune Blues
- Williams Rigby, MD, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, N.H.
- Perioperative Management for Patients with Rheumatic Diseases
- Susan Goodman, MD, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
- Spondyloarthritis: New Directions & Treatment Options
- Christopher T. Ritchlin, MD, MPH, University of Rochester, N.Y.
Monday, Jan. 22
- Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis
- Michael Wechsler, MMSc, MD, National Jewish Health, Denver
- Interpreting Spine MRI: Culprit or Bystander
- Zacharia Isaac, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
- Eosinophilia for the Rheumatologist
- Michael Wechsler, MMSc, MD, National Jewish Health, Denver
- Therapy for Osteoarthritis: Where are we, and where are we going?
- Joel Block, MD, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
Tuesday, Jan. 23
- Biological Approaches in OA: Breakthrough or Same Old Story?
- Joel Block, MD, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
- Rheumatoid Arthritis: 2018 Treatment Update
- Michael E. Weinblatt, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
- Pediatric Rheumatology: Lessons for Adult Rheumatologists
- Peter Nigrovic, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
- Panel: Inflammatory Arthritis
- Joel M. Kremer, MD, The Center for Rheumatology, Albany, N.Y.
- Vivien Bykerk, MD, FRCPC, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
- Eric L. Matteson, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
- Christopher T. Ritchlin, MD, MPH, University of Rochester, Minn.
- Michael E. Weinblatt, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Registered attendees for the virtual Winter Rheumatology Symposium event will be able to watch these sessions as they happen and view the recorded versions for 30 days after the event. After 30 days, these sessions will be added incrementally to the ACR Beyond Streaming annual subscription.
More ACR Beyond Live events are in the works:
March 9–10:
- 2018 Program Directors’ Conference
- 2018 Division Directors’ Conference
April 13–15:
- 2018 State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium
ACR Beyond is the newest example of how the ACR works to provide new and innovative education to members and to rheumatology professionals around the world, and I look forward to watching evolve into a resource members value. I encourage you to visit the site, learn more and see how ACR Beyond can provide the flexibility you need to participate in more outstanding educational sessions tailored to your needs as a rheumatology professional.
David Daikh, MD, PhD, is the 81st president of the ACR. He serves as the director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program at the University of California, San Francisco and as chief of the Rheumatology Division at the SFVA Medical Center, where he directs the Rheumatology Clinic.
