When Liz Morasso, LCSW, facilitates a Families Living with Rheumatic Diseases support group at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, she empathizes with the struggles and challenges of her young patients. Ms. Morasso was only 16 years old when she was diagnosed with both systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). She knows all too well…
I knew I was about to be schooled. That’s what I thought when I first started to read the Twitter feed of Erin D. Michos, MD, MHS, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. I have a Twitter account, but as a general rule, I use it…
In April 2019, the Rheumatology Association of Nevada (RAN) hosted its fourth annual meeting. “We had the largest-ever number of attendees,” says RAN President Tim Kelly, MD, a rheumatologist in Las Vegas. Launched in 2016, RAN continues to grow, and Dr. Kelly hopes to see the statewide organization do more. “We want to expand our…
Some would call Guillermo J. Valenzuela, MD, a hunter of sorts. He has accompanied men and their dogs into the forests of Italy in search of white truffles, an underground fungus considered a European delicacy. “Years ago, when visiting my wife’s family in Italy, I walked into a very old restaurant in Parma,” says Dr….
Harold Edward Paulus, MD, professor of medicine (emeritus) at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), died April 5, 2019. During his nearly 90 years of life, he contributed hugely to clinical science and patient care in rheumatology. Hal was crazy smart. And if he had an idea, that idea had to be nurtured and expanded….
On June 3, Steven C. Echard, IOM, CAE, relocated to Atlanta to begin his new role as executive vice president of the ACR, his third term with the organization over his distinguished career in association management. Since 2014, Mr. Echard has served as chief executive officer of the American Association for the Study of Liver…
Involving pharmacists in the management of chronic diseases benefits patients, says Wendy Ramey, BSPharm, RPh, CSP, a clinical pharmacy specialist in rheumatology at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. She knows this personally. As someone with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Ms. Ramey knows pharmacists can play an important role in patient education and encouraging adherence to medications….
Farokh Jamalyaria, MD, a rheumatologist in Houston, never set out to become a birder. He remembers his first foray into birding as being completely unintentional. At 8 years old, while living in Ruston, La., he showed his mother an image of an ivory-billed woodpecker—an extinct species last spotted in the 1940s about 100 miles from…
Paul Sufka Named Social Media Editor for New ACR Twitter Account A clinical rheumatologist with HealthPartners in St. Paul, Minn., Paul Sufka, MD, is conversant with social media: he’s been on Twitter for almost 10 years; has hosted an online rheumatology podcast; and blogs about physician self-care and using Twitter as a tool at medical…
The College’s principal journals have been telling the tale of workforce woe, exploring the reasons for our predicament and potential solutions for the long and short term.1,2 Among the medium-term remedies is increased use of advanced practice clinicians (APCs), as we collectively refer to nurse practitioners and physician assistants in rheumatology practices. Solutions Estimates of…