2024 ACR and ARP Masters
Fellows and masters, members at different stages in their careers, are both important to rheumatology. During the year I co-chaired the Membership and Awards Committee with ARP President Adam Goode , PT, DPT, PhD, I gained an even greater appreciation of the essential roles that fellows and masters both play in shaping our specialty, as well as how the ACR and ARP support and recognize these important contributors to rheumatology.
Fellows—the Future
Training one fellow benefits thousands of patients. Fellows become the rheumatologists who will join our practices, who will serve patient populations who have never had access to a trained specialist, who will discover the next critical pathway involved in disease pathogenesis and who will design the trial leading to treatments that improve or hopefully cure disease. In every aspect of rheumatology, fellows represent the essential link to our future. The ACR offers many resources for fellows, including educational activities, volunteer opportunities, meeting scholarships, tips on preparing for the boards and career planning. Through these initiatives the ACR is here to support fellows during their training and throughout their entire career.
Fellow Education
The ACR Committee on Training offers programs that enhance rheumatology education. The Virtual Rheumatology Program for Fellows in Training (V-FIT) consists of the Virtual Rheumatology Teaching Lessons (ViRL), which cover a range of rheumatology topics, and the Virtual Rheumatology Practicum (ViP), a lecture series for first-year fellows in adult and pediatric rheumatology. The Rheum4Science modules focus on immunology integral to the pathophysiology of rheumatic diseases and drug mechanisms of action, as well as clinical research methodology necessary for the knowledgeable practice of rheumatology.
Fellows & Professional Meetings
Educational programs for fellows are offered at the ACR’s State-of-the-Art (SOTA) Clinical Symposium and ACR Convergence. The ACR offers scholarships to attend these and other ACR professional meetings. Scholarship applications have deadlines and individual requirements, including that scholarship candidates must be active ACR transitional members through the date of the meeting.
Rheumatology fellows from Yale School of Medicine, Knowledge Bowl champions at ACR Convergence 2024. (Click to enlarge.)
Increasing Fellowship Positions
One ACR goal for fellows is to train more of them. Pediatric rheumatology: Families who have a child with a rheumatic illness may have to travel long distances for their child to receive care. Pediatric fellowship programs are not filling, and we are working on strategies to change this. Adult rheumatology: We are facing a workforce shortage in which the need for care will outpace the number of practitioners. The ACR and ARP are seeking to address this in a number of ways. More residents are pursuing an adult rheumatology training position than there are funded slots in established programs.
The ACR Workforce Solutions Committee is collaborating with institutions and communities to develop new fellowship training programs. Since the 2023–24 academic year, six adult training programs and three pediatric training programs have received accreditation, and one new pediatric program will launch in 2025–26.
The ACR Government Affairs Committee continues to engage in active advocacy efforts to increase the number of available training positions. This includes being an active member of the Association of American Medical Colleges Graduate Medical Education Coalition, which is working to expand Medicare-funded training of both residents and fellows.
The Rheumatology Research Foundation also plays a critical role in expanding fellowship training opportunities. In addition to awards that support fellow research, the Foundation offers two awards that focus on funding and expanding positions for fellowship training. In the past 10 years, the Foundation has funded 268 fellowship positions at 67 institutions nationwide; 32% of funding during this period supported pediatric programs.
Masters—Our Past, Present & Future
I first became aware of ACR Masters when I saw the Awards of Distinction being presented during an ACR annual meeting opening ceremony. This rapidly became one of my favorite parts of the meeting—a joyous occasion to celebrate our own. The Master award recognizes not only the individual, but the collective spirit of our community in contributing to rheumatology.
The designation of ACR Master is conferred on ACR members, age 65 or older by Oct. 1 of the year in which they are nominated and who have made outstanding contributions to the ACR and the field of rheumatology through scholarly achievement and/or service to their patients, students and the profession. The ARP Master designation is awarded to ARP members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology through service to the ACR/ARP and advancements in research, practice, education and/or advocacy. Although these descriptions highlight shared attributes, every Master’s story is unique. In the Masters, we can see our own individual journeys reflected, whether that be in caring for our patients in a busy practice, spending time educating our trainees, considering the next research idea or making a difference in our local and extended communities.
Although Masters have made important contributions to the history of rheumatology, it is also important to appreciate their continued influence on its present and future. Masters serve in many different roles, as active clinicians and investigators, mentors to trainees, junior faculty and those starting out in clinical practice, and as a valuable source of knowledge within our community.
To date, the ACR and ARP have awarded the distinction of Master to 452 rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals, and we look forward to welcoming our next awardees in October at ACR Convergence 2025.
The Call for Awards is currently open and will close April 1. Nominations for all of the ACR/ARP Awards of Distinction can be submitted through https://rheumatology.org/acr-awards.
Carol A. Langford, MD, MHS, is the director of the Center for Vasculitis Care and Research in the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases at Cleveland Clinic, where she is professor of medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and holds the Harold C. Schott endowed chair in rheumatic and immunologic diseases.
