The History of The Rheumatologist

In looking back on his tenure as physician editor and his overall career in medicine, Dr. Helfgott has several words of wisdom. He states that, if one is interested in editing, it is important to get involved with every possible opportunity that arises in that arena. For Dr. Helfgott, this started with work on UpToDate, which was founded by Dr. Bud Rose and remains highly regarded to this day. In a more informal manner, Dr. Helfgott also credits helping his three children with their homework as important to his maturation as an editor.

“I was responsible for editing their essays for school,” he recalls, “and I learned to focus on getting the point across while being concise and succinct.” In his free time, Dr. Helfgott has always enjoyed reading historical fiction as well as great works of literature, and he notes there is so much to be learned from even casual exposure to great writers.

Ms. Antoline-Wang

Both Dr. Pisetsky and Dr. Helfgott credit being a part of an amazing team of colleagues as key to their success, and that team deserves recognition. Dawn Antoline-Wang was the editor of TR from 2005 until 2014 and worked closely with Dr. Pisetsky and Dr. Helfgott; she is still with Wiley as the editorial director of the business-to-business group of magazines that TR is a part of. Liliana Estep has served as the magazine’s designer since the launch of the publication, and the ACR staff contacts are Joan Roth and Rachel Whittaker.

As mentioned above, Keri Losavio has served as editor since 2014 and has also seen the publication evolve and flourish over time. Ms. Losavio’s background includes editing emergency medicine publications, and she also wrote for The Hospitalist and Caring for the Ages. From 2014 to the present time, she notes one significant change has been the introduction of e-newsletters. The electronic table of contents (eTOC) has been a longtime staple. But the introduction of several other regularly deployed e-newsletters has been evolving since 2015. These include eNewsRheum, ACR@Work, FocusRheum, ExamRheum and Best of Meeting emails. She adds that more content is now published online first. Ms. Losavio is proud of the fact that, in 2022, five standalone editorial supplements, covering a range of topics, have been published, and that the quality and quantity of articles continues to increase.

Ms. Losavio notes that challenges remain, such as how to balance content appropriately to meet the needs of both ACR and ARP members. She says reaching members how and when they desire is key as well, and that TR will continue to adapt to meet these wishes. More adaptations to electronic needs will likely be added, in the form of e-newsletters, virtual presentations, video e-talks and so forth.