Exclusive: ACR Convergence 2024| Focus Rheums

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Professional Topics

Subcategories:AwardsCareer DevelopmentEthicsInterprofessional PerspectiveLegislation & AdvocacyPresident's PerspectiveProfilesRheuminations

REF and AF Partner to Provide an Additional “Bridge Funding”

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Fostering promising investigators is imperative to the future of rheumatology, so when the ACR Research and Education Foundation (REF) board of directors discovered that outstanding applicants were not being funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) K-series grant program (the NIH’s career development award program) due to budgetary constraints, the REF quickly called a meeting with the Arthritis Foundation (AF) and the NIH to discuss a solution.

Help Find a Cure for RA

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The ACR REF established the Within Our Reach: Finding a Cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) campaign in 2006 with one goal in mind: to find a cure for RA.

Where Do RheumPAC Donations Go?

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RheumPAC has been a standing committee of the ACR since 2007. The PAC was established to increase the ACR’s presence in Washington, D.C., and is charged with managing the contributions to congressional campaigns, as well as soliciting the membership for funds to increase the purse for these contributions.

Drug Safety

David A. Fox, MD  |  

What can the ACR do?

A Ghost Appears

David A. Fox, MD  |  

We need to address the specter of ghostwriting in medical research

American College of Rheumatology (ACR) on Capitol Hill

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“By tomorrow night, there will be so many more people on Capitol Hill who know—and are sensitive to—rheumatology and the issues that impact you and your patients. There is no substitute for what you are doing,” says Martha M. Kendrick, a partner at Patton Boggs, LLP, the ACR’s lobbying firm. This is what she told the physician, health professional, and patient participants of the ACR’s 2008 “Advocates for Arthritis” advocacy event—termed a fly-in—before they took their personal stories to the lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

A New Twist in the Consumerization of Healthcare

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Who are the new medical consumers? These people behave like medical “shoppers” because they are more mobile than previous generations and are empowered by the Internet. They can research and form opinions about diseases, treatment options, and the best route to recovery—all before stepping foot in to an exam room. This emerging population has been taught that in order to be a health-wise consumer and to get the most value, a patient must take an active role in his or her care.