Editor’s note: Welcome to the first installment of Experiences in Advocacy, a special series authored by ACR members detailing personal experiences in advocacy. We need rheumatologists to join the American Medical Association (AMA). Here’s why, and how to do it. Having participated in your delegation for over a decade, I have seen major improvements in…
For 30 years, the Rheumatology Research Foundation has been working to advance research and training to improve the health of people with rheumatic diseases. The past three decades are replete with the achievement of significant milestones and extraordinary accomplishments. Funding Research, Training The Foundation’s efforts began in 1985 when it was established by the ACR….
Updated Oct. 22, 2015 (revised to delete inaccurate statistics) The cold, hard facts: This year’s rheumatology fellowship applicant pool resembles those of prior years. It is extremely diverse; every continent is represented, save Antarctica. It is somewhat larger, due in part to the growing influx of graduates from the cluster of Caribbean-based medical schools, where…
We’re in this together for rheumatology and our patients. Those who know me appreciate my devotion to Duke Basketball and my pride in their recent NCAA championship. Coach K (Krzyzewski), a firmly established leader in the world of college basketball, makes the analogy that a basketball team is like five fingers on a hand, and…
Rheumatologists who have not been members of the American Medical Association (AMA), or have let their membership lapse, should strongly consider joining now for 2015 so rheumatology can remain involved in steering the direction of the AMA. Call the AMA at 800-262-3211 and specify that you want to join for 2015, or contact ACR staff…
The Lupus Initiative (TLI) has been an emergent creation inside the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) for the past six years. In 2009, the Office of Minority Health and Office of Women’s Health (now called the Office of Health Disparities) solicited an application from the ACR to develop resources for educating non-rheumatologists, both in training…
I have spent my entire academic career as a clinical investigator and have grown to recognize the importance of a strong and vibrant rheumatology workforce. However, I am deeply concerned about our ability as a subspecialty to sustain our research enterprise and take advantage of the modern breakthroughs in science. The reduction in federal funding…
CHICAGO—With the approval of the Jak inhibitors (i.e., jakinibs) tofacitinib and ruxolitinib—and others being investigated—rheumatologists need to arm themselves with an understanding of these drugs so they can think critically when evaluating them and deciding how to use them, said John O’Shea, MD, chief of the Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch of and scientific director…
CHICAGO—Stem cell transplantation for systemic sclerosis patients has come a long way over the past decade, with more finely calibrated dosing and better patient selection, said George Georges, MD, associate member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and associate professor in the medical oncology division at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle,…
CHICAGO—Scleroderma patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) might benefit from more aggressive therapy, an expert in the field said in a session on lung involvement in rheumatic diseases at the American College of Rheumatology’s 2015 State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in May. Newer trials—the SERAPHIN trial on macitentan, GRIPHON on selexipag, and AMBITION on an ambrisentan/tadalafil combination—show…