So this next year, a high priority for me is that soft aspect of what makes the ACR click. We need to give our members a face-to-face meeting, with interpersonal experiences that prompt members to become volunteers, and volunteers to become leaders of the College.
A New President Takes the ACR Helm: Introducing Douglas White, MD, PhD
Leslie Mertz, PhD | Issue: December 2022 |
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With that in mind—and ACR Convergence 2022 behind us—our goal for ACR Convergence 2023 in San Diego is to get our face-to-face mojo back without losing the benefits of the virtual offerings. I think the professional societies that do that right, that thread the needle by combining a great face-to-face meeting with on-demand, top-of-the-line content, will be the societies of the future. We plan to be one of them.
TR: You mentioned that one of the things you learned as a new volunteer was that the ACR does far more than you knew. What is something you would like new members to know about the College?
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Dr. White: I think most members view the ACR primarily as a meeting and are unaware of how much our advocacy efforts benefit our members, whether you’re a community rheumatologist, researcher, nurse practitioner or any of the many types of rheumatology professional under the ACR/ARP umbrella. We are advocating on national and state levels for all of our members who work every day in the trenches for the benefit of their patients. (Note: See sidebar for a snapshot of the services provided by the ACR.)
TR: Speaking of learning new things, what is something ACR members may not know about you, but might like to know?
Dr. White: At the ACR, my involvement has been heavily on the advocacy side, so I think people see me in that vein and are surprised to find that I was an immunologist before I was a rheumatologist, or that our research ends up in the Journal of Virology, for instance.
I guess that’s one of the benefits of being a volunteer at the ACR—you can explore so many different areas of our profession.
Leslie Mertz, PhD, is a freelance science journalist based in northern Michigan.
