The 75-Year History of PANLAR

PANLAR would become the first ILAR regional league. Its first president was Dr. Ralph Pemberton, who acted as such until his death in 1949. Dr. Ruiz Moreno followed suit between 1949 and 1953, while his friend Dr. Herrera Ramos headed the institution between 1955 and 1959.

The members of PANLAR gathered during the 9th International congress in Toronto. All the founders but Ralph Pemberton posed for this picture: Aníbal Ruiz Moreno (1949–53), Fernando Herrera Ramos (1955-59); Richard Freyberg (1953–55), Graham Wallace (1959–63), Richard Smith (1967–70) and Javier Robles Gil, ILAR president (1961–65).

Conference Highlight

One of the most important rheumatology conferences took place during the postwar period in 1949. The VII ILAR Congress was held at New York’s Waldorf Astoria and assembled the specialty’s world elite for the first time since the Second World War.

The presentation of the dramatic effects of cortisone in the fast relief of pain and improved mobility of arthritis patients, perceived as a near-miracle that enabled them to walk again, made Philip Hench the big figure of the event. Hench was awarded the Nobel Prize the following year for his discovery.

That 1949 meeting was the setting for the discreet first meetings of the ILAR regional leagues, PANLAR, founded in 1944, and the European league, EULAR, founded in 1947. Six years after that ILAR conference, Hench would remain one of the most important figures rheumatology at the first Pan-American Congress of Rheumatology held in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in 1955. Held at the Copacabana, it featured an audience of 239 from 15 countries and provided an image of high quality and excellent organization.

The Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology (APLAR) was created in 1963, and the African League of Associations for Rheumatology (AFLAR) was founded in 1989.

PANLAR presidents of the past five terms are featured here: Antonio Ximénes (Brasil), Carlos Pineda (México), Carlo V. Caballero (Colombia), Luis Espinoza (Perú/U.S.), John Reveille (U.S.).

We Are All PANLAR

PANLAR has experienced tremendous growth. It now operates in four regions with 21 member countries: North (Canada, USA and Mexico), Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Cuba), Bolivarian (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), and Southern Cone (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay). Study groups and updated bylaws were drafted during Antonio Reginato’s presidency in the first decade of the 21st century, and the entity was organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Atlanta.