Bharat Kumar, MD, MME, FACP, FAAAAI, RhMSUS, is a clinical assistant professor of internal medicine in the Division of Immunology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City. Before assuming the role of physician editor, he was a member of the ACR Board of Directors (beginning in 2020). After attending college at the University of Pennsylvania, he went to Saba University School of Medicine and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Kentucky. He arrived in Iowa in 2014 and completed fellowships in both rheumatology and allergy/immunology in 2017, as well as a master’s degree in medical education and certification in musculoskeletal ultrasonography. His clinical interests include the intersection of autoimmunity and immunodeficiency, musculoskeletal ultrasonography, and ocular inflammatory diseases. As the associate program director for the rheumatology fellowship training program, he is also driven by a desire to improve the quality of medical education as well as the value of clinical work for both patients and practitioners. Outside the clinic, Dr. Kumar has a keen interest in medical journalism, quality improvement and humanism, and is the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Humanism-in-Research Associate Editor.
As I was aimlessly browsing the web one night, I noticed a strange ad on the side. It was for a bird feeder powered by artificial intelligence (AI). I don’t know exactly what prompted the Google ad algorithm to show me this particular advertisement, but I was nevertheless struck by it. Against my better judgment,…
In this episode, Dr. Kumar offers some advice for incoming rheumatology fellows: “Start constructing winner’s triangles.”
June is always a bittersweet month, at least in academic medicine. We get to look forward to a new fresh set of faces coming into our training programs, but we also have to say goodbye to those once-fresh faces that have progressed through their medical education journeys. These transitions are never easy, neither for the…
In this episode, Dr. Kumar reflects on the importance of championing patients and healthcare through advocacy, and systems thinking.
One of the great joys of rheumatology is that it prioritizes systems-based thinking. Whether integrating data from radiographic imaging or piecing together a puzzling case of autoimmunity, rheumatologists are tasked with understanding how systems fundamentally work. In fact, this emphasis on systems-based thinking is often what draws and keeps the best and smartest physicians within…
In this episode, Dr. Kumar reflects on the value of physical touch in the clinical encounter, a key element of a holistic patient assessment that can reveal important diagnostic information and strengthen connection between doctor and patient.
During the height of the pandemic four years ago, I took every precaution to avoid, or at the very least, delay contracting COVID-19. I religiously wore a mask in all public settings, I washed my hands so frequently that my skin became dry and cracked, and I studiously maintained a six-foot distance from others. But…
In this episode, Dr. Kumar discusses brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership.
“I’m actually from Iowa. Where do you hail from?” I replied, in the friendliest tone I could muster. Many readers may already know the context, but I’ll rewind a few moments to clear up any ambiguity. I was in clinic and talking with a kind lady with joint pain. While I was in the middle…
In this episode, Dr. Kumar discusses concepts of time, flow and what they mean for the patient experience and the rheumatologist.